


The Last Resort

by Capesandshapes



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Classic Romcom vibes, F/M, Flirty Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Lila is not the big bad for once, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Identity Reveal, Marinette is trying to move on, Oblivious Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Sharing a Bed, adrien is in love with marinette
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:07:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26473117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capesandshapes/pseuds/Capesandshapes
Summary: After an akuma attack goes wrong, Adrien finally learns Ladybug's secret identity and finds himself falling even deeper in love with his friend. He thinks he's finally gotten lucky when she declares to him that she's currently in the business of falling love with anyone but her previous crush... until that crush turns out to be him.Now Adrien has to somehow convince the girl of his dreams to fall back in love with him, while keeping his own identity a secret from her.Well, if there was one thing his father taught him, it was how to multitask.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 98
Kudos: 394





	1. Prologue: Now That I Know Who You Are

It was hard, or at least that’s what he would say to her when she asked. The truth of things was that it was actually excruciatingly painful, and he wanted nothing more than to never go through it again.

But he couldn’t say that, not to Ladybug, not when she gave him every ounce of trust in her body, not when she lay in his arms trying desperately hard not to cry as searing pain shot through her. There were a hundred things he could say to her at that moment, nearly all about how she should have let him take the hit instead or how he could easily become Mister Bug and miraculous ladybug these injuries away if she let him; but instead, he kept it to himself, cradling his lady a bit closer to his chest as he hopped through the rooftops of Paris. All he could do was pray that the akuma wouldn’t strike again tonight, and that his lady would be gifted a quiet weekend.

“I need you to pop it back into place,” were the first words she managed to say to him through gritted teeth, wincing as he set her down on the cement of an abandoned balcony. She ignored the irritation building in his face as she insisted once again, just as she had at the scene, “if you pop my ankle back into place, then I’ll be able to get home, convince my parents I fell out of bed, and go to a doctor.”

“I’m going to remind you again that this is a bad idea.”

“This is the only idea I have, Chat,” she began again, pushing her foot towards him with a laborious breath. “Help me, Chat noir. You’re my only hope,” she stated, a pained smile spreading across her face at her own joke.

As cute as it was, he couldn’t smile back. “Not that I don’t paws-itively love hearing that, my lady-- I’m a huge Star Wars fan-- but I gotta remind you; you’re the guardian, you make the rules now. There’s no one around to say that I can’t take you home, or at least to a hospital.” He swallowed, pointedly looking down to her now swollen ankle before asking, “what if you still can’t walk after this?”

“I-I’ll figure it out,” she winced as his hands wrapped around her ankle, her body recoiling.

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at how confident she was that things would be that easy; he’d hurt rolled his ankle out of place before while fencing, and that injury didn’t exactly heal as smoothly as he thought it would. Still, it was her; he was sure she’d find a way; she always found a way. 

She spoke again, her voice low and uncertain, “Chat… Is it going to hurt?”

“A lot,” he admitted, internally wincing as he imagined the sound that would come out of her mouth when he did it. “It’ll probably feel a little worse than the initial injury since you won’t have all that adrenaline to distract you, and we don’t exactly have any pain killers.”

She grimaced. Ladybug rarely got hurt, not with him around, but when she did it was never a pretty sight. She didn’t deal well with pain, though she tried to convince her partner otherwise. That’s why Adrien was Chat Noir, he supposed. He’d had his fair share of painful moments and always turned out on top, not much could phase him anymore. But her? She wasn’t built for it.

He didn’t know how he lived with it whenever things like this happened. Oh right, humor. Lots of humor. “You know I can just… kiss it better, right?” He joked, attempting to keep his tone light to distract her. If he distracted her well enough, then he was sure he could get the crack done and it would be a little less awful than having her sit there in anticipation. 

“Awfully tempting, but…”

“But?” He asked, his ears cocked in mock playfulness. Maintaining eye contact, he lowered his head to her ankle, surprised that she did not kick him away or make a disgruntled sound as he did so. His lips brushed softly against her ankle, and he was certain she could feel it because her cheeks turned a lovely pink. Taking in that pink, he grabbed her ankle and…

_ CRACK. _

His hand flew to cover her mouth as her eyes rolled back, the corned of his mouth pulled into a straight line as tears pooled at the corner of her eyes. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and in the initial resetting of her ankle she had accidentally grabbed him, her hands digging into his shoulders. She shot him an accusatory look as she retracted her hands, her eyes still wide and her breath still heavy.

“Distraction,” he clarified, “it hurts worse when you’re anticipating it.” Withdrawing his hand from her mouth, he reached for the hands she’d put on his shoulders, his fingers wrapping around hers as he attempted to dislodge her from him. “Don’t get me wrong, bugaboo; I love to be held by you, but this is a little bit too hard, don’t you think?”

She mumbled something under her breath in return, slowly pulling her legs in closer to herself as she spoke, her hand rubbing at the offending joint.

He missed it completely, and therefore had to ask, “What’s the matter, Ladybug, Chat’s got your tongue?” Ladybug didn’t seem to get the humor.

“Youmadeitworse,” she said.

“What?”

“You. Made. It. Worse.” She said.

Ah. Was it possible for his eyes to bug out of their sockets more than they currently were? Because it did not feel like it was. A small I told you so lingered at the back of his throat, but he didn’t say it.

“How am I going to get home?” Ladybug asked, her voice low and mournful. “Worse yet, how am I going to get into bed to fall out of it?” She leaned back against the wall, groaning loudly, “there’s no way I can lucky charm out of this, is there?”

“Considering the fact that it gave you a bicycle pedal to tell you that you should fill the Collector’s sketchbook and fill up the pages…” Chat shrugged. “I wouldn’t hope for much.”  
“Maybe if I had the horse miraculous,” she began, her brain running through a thousand solutions. However, just as quickly as she had the idea, her face fell once more, “the miraculous box is in my room.”

“Again, you make the rules, Ladybug,” He began.

“What if we blindfolded you?”

He raised an eyebrow, “So I can leap and miss a rooftop? No offense, my lady, cats land on their feet, but I haven’t heard the same thing about ladybugs. I’m sure if you just let me take you home, I can keep my eyes forward and won’t even recognize the area. I mean, Paris is big.”

“You’d be surprised how small it really is,” she deadpanned. Almost in response, her earrings began to beep, warning of her upcoming detransformation. “...You think there’s any chance Kwamis can carry people long distance?”

“Comfortably? No.”

Her breath caught in her throat as she once again looked at her ankle, noting the growing swell. Chat noir watched as her expression dropped into defeat, slowly realizing that the concentration in her eyes was actually her trying to move her ankle without worry. His hand clasped over it to steady her and she whimpered in response; if he had fur to stand on edge then it would have been.

“You know, Hawkmoth’s never been able to akumatize me,” he began again, his free hand brushing stray hairs from her bangs into their proper place. “He doesn’t even bother sending them.”

“Yeah?” She asked, averting her eyes.

“Yeah,” he replied, leaning close to the girl and whispering almost as if he was telling her a secret, “I don’t think he’ll ever get me so long as I’m with you.”

She exhaled, bringing her arms closer around herself as she studied him for a moment, her lips pursed in apparent thought. After a second, she asked, “What if I detransform and I’m not the type of person you thought I was? What if it’s disappointing? What if you see who I and get akumatized right on the spot?”

He frowned in response, his face practically spelling it out for her, ‘are you crazy?’

“Chat…” She sighed, once again interrupted by the beeping of her earrings. There wasn’t much time left really, she couldn’t hold out much longer. She stared into his green eyes, hers widening in response to the sheer determination on his face. He wasn’t letting her go, he wasn’t about to let Ladybug limp through the streets of Paris. “Okay.”

“Okay?” he asked.

“Okay,” she repeated, her eyes shut tightly and her nose scrunched as she prepared herself. Chat lingered over her, his eyes wide as he processed the fact that she had actually agreed. Her hand reached over to his, fingers lacing through his as she prepared herself. When he squeezed her hand in response she seemed to find enough reassurance, quickly muttering under her breath, “spots off.”

In an instant, his whole world changed.

* * *

“So, run it by me again, why you showed up so early,” Nino began once more, leaning against the schoolyard’s gates beside Adrien. Sure, Adrien was prone to show up at school early, but more often than not, he waited in the classroom like a normal person. This, though? Waiting outside the school with his eyes darting to any nearby passerby? Not normal. That overly confident smile on his face that very clearly should not have been broken out anywhere other than a photoshoot? Also not normal.

“I just… Felt like I needed to be a little early,” Adrien replied, fidgeting with the straps on his school bag once more, unable to withhold his excitement. 

“Riiiiiiiiight,” Nino replied, placing his hand around Adrien’s shoulder. Unimpressed by the obvious lie his best friend was telling, he asked, “So, what’s her name?”

“Hm?”

Nino’s eyes rolled. “Her name, dude,” He took Adrien’s false inquisitive look in stride, continuing to press his buddy for information. “You know, the name of the girl that you’re totally waiting for? Her name?” After a moment’s thought, Nino added, “Or his! I mean, if it’s a dude then that’s cool too.”

Adrien turned to him with a look that faked shock.

“Oh come on, you really don’t think I’m that stupid, do you bro?” Nino stated, his eyes trailing off to look for any particular girl who might have gained his friend’s affections but coming up short. Of course, he didn’t look very long because steadily approaching was his own girlfriend, and to be honest, she was a little bit more distracting than any other girl could be. “Alya, you’re never going to believe--” Nino began.

“That you’re standing outside the gates of the school during a cold Parisian winter?” Alya interrupted. “No, I’m not,” she said with a grin, walking up to the boys to also lean against the gates. “You guys do know the classroom is probably unlocked, don’t you?”

“Oh, we know,” Nino replied, wrapping his other arm around his girlfriend’s waist and pulling both her and Adrien closer, “but Adrien’s waiting.”

“Waiting?” Alya asked, a single eyebrow raised in response to the statement. “For?”

“His looooooover,” Nino taunted, pulling Adrien in even closer to him.

Adrien couldn’t help but smile, really smile, his cheeks growing pink at the word. It was a good word, one that he hoped to soon use in reference to her, but not exactly the right one. Crush wasn’t enough, and ‘girl I’m in love with only began to scrape the surface of his newfound affection. Lover would be a good name to fit the affection, if he got the chance to use it. “She’s not quite that yet, Nino, but hopefully…” You know, if things were easy for once.

“Wait, what?” Alya’s voice responded in surprise, her head darting to look at Adrien even at the same time as Nino. Unlike Nino, whose face was coated in excitement, a very evident look of concern covered her face. 

“A girl,” Adrien stated plainly, looking past his best friend to Alya. “I’m in love with a girl.”

Alya blinked, once, twice, and then again. Siren went off in her head, trains crashed, and buildings burnt; a horrible feeling overcame her. Her whole body stiffened in response and her face took on a look of absolute dread. “Since when?”

“Three days ago”

“Who?”

Adrien didn’t respond, his eyes had evidently locked on someone far away.

“Who?” Alya again demanded.

Adrien smiled to someone in the distance, his hand reaching up to wave to them as Nino’s arms grew loose around both Alya and his friend.

“Adrien!” Alya called harshly, jerking towards him. Before she could properly poke his chest and make him pay attention, however, Nino stepped in the way, his face in a dumbfounded expression. Alya tried to get past him, worry growing under her skin and consuming her sensibility, but before she could do that Nino reached for her chin, softly turning her head away from Adrien.

Suddenly, she saw what he saw, a sight that made her stomach drop so low it might as well have burrowed out of her body and into the ground.

“Marinette!” The blond called, and she could see it, she could just see it plain as day painted across his face: adoration, absolute and total adoration.

_ Goddammit, now he liked Marinette? _

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's the fanfic that I hinted at at the end of my other fanfictions. This will likely update twice a week, if not a little more often. 
> 
> Like my writing? Interested in more? Send me a request at https://capesandshapes.tumblr.com/ask, where I will try to be as active as possible in fulfilling them. All of my fanfiction will be posted to my Tumblr and Archive of Our Own, so stay tuned!


	2. Inconvenient Trunks and Really Convenient Dialogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien visits Marinette to see whether or not she's decided to learn Chat's identity. In the process, he learns about fairytale plotlines and how inconvenient being shoved in a trunk really is.

_I need to talk to you_. Alya’s message came too late as Adrien was already standing outside of the Dupain Cheng bakery, having headed straight to it after school let out rather than the waiting car of his bodyguard. He’d end up regretting both decisions later on and he knew it, but that didn’t seem to matter too much to him at the moment.

He’d promised Marinette the weekend to think things over, figure out if she wanted to know Chat Noir’s identity at the moment, and really process what she’d done on Friday. That weekend was over, and he’d come to collect his answer right on time (though she would likely argue that he hadn’t considering that he’d been waiting for her at the school gates).

He let his hand run through his hair, trailing down his neck as he stared at the bakery, the building suddenly much more intimidating than it had been a little less than three days ago. A small part of him wished that he hadn’t insisted on dressing so ordinary today, wearing the same thing he always did to put her at ease. It felt like he should have done more, like when she inevitably said that she wanted to know who he was he should be wearing a suit or something more fantastic than a t-shirt.

But that was the romantic in him. That side of him was all too predominant lately, looking at the few photos he owned of him with Marinette and trying to put a finger on how he felt about the girl now. _She’s ladybug, she’s the one,_ the thought made his cheeks warmer, far warmer than the idea of Lila or Chloe being the masked superheroine. Maybe it did matter who she was under the mask, just a little.

A flash of dark pigtails disappearing behind the shop door brought him back to the moment, and he knew it was time. “Ready to let the cat out of the bag?” Adrien asked, speaking down into the pocket of his shirt with a grin.

“Ugh,” the voice of his kwami replied, Plagg floating lazily out of his pocket with an unamused expression. “Do me a favor, Romeo, drop the transformation before you go in for the big kiss. Cats don’t like getting wet,” Plagg stuck out his tongue, “especially not from your sweaty palms.”

“Ha ha,” Adrien replied dryly, shooting an amused look to his kwami, “Who said anything about kissing? I mean, it’s Marinette, maybe she doesn’t want to kiss someone who…”

“Has model good looks and is the most famous guy in all of Paris?” Plagg asked.

“...Is me,” Adrien stated plainly after finding the right words. “Someone who is me, her friend. Ladybug already said she had a crush on someone, and I’m pretty sure that Marinette would have let me know by now if it was me.” A small groan exited him as he thought things over more, his hand returning to rubbing the back of his neck, “You know, maybe now that she sees that the homeschooled weirdo she’s friends with and the guy running around in a cat costume are the same person, she might not want to hang around me as much.”

Plagg’s eyes softened, the small cat drifting closer to his wielder, “C’mon kid, who wouldn’t want to be around you?” He reached a tiny paw to pat the boy’s shoulder, “You’re interesting, you’ve got spunk. Easy on the eyes, smells like camembert all the time, and you’re smart? Kid, you’re the whole package.”

Adrien snorted at his Kwami, “thanks, Plagg.”

* * *

“I don’t want to know who you are,” Marinette loudly announced as he opened the trapdoor leading to her room, and Adrien found himself missing a few steps on her stairs in response. Thank god he was Chat, otherwise he would have fell.

“W-what?” His hands gripped the handrail and his fingers dug into the railing. Out of all the responses Adrien had imagined, Ladybug stating that she didn’t want to know who he was without the slightest hesitation was not one of them.

“I don’t want to know who you are,” Marinette replied, sounding as if to her it really was that simple. The small black-haired young woman gave him only a sparing glance before continuing her project at hand, her hand diving in and out of the fabric as she slowly embroidered a piece of cloth.

She was obviously trying to seem nonchalant, but he caught a glimpse of pink dusted on the tops of her cheeks as she inspected her embroidery. It didn’t take much for him to realize what her project really was, another way to keep her eyes off of him. She was still embarrassed.

Oh, this was good.

“So you don’t want to know at all,” he tried, leaning over the back of her desk chair far too close to the young woman. “Not at all curious about who I could be?”

“No,” she replied, holding her embroidery a little bit closer to her face.

“Not even a little bit?”

“It’s an all or nothing question,” she retorted.

Well, she had him there. Still, there were other tactics. “I could be anyone, anyone at all,” He teased. “I could be Ivan, or Nathaniel, or… Chloe Bourgeois.”

Marinette snorted, putting down her embroidery to properly roll her eyes at him so he could see it. Pushing back from the desk and nearly crushing Chat’s foot in the process, she spun her chair around and began to poke holes in his suggestions. “Ivan is head over heels for Mylene, so I doubt he’d be flirting with me as much as you do. It’d be strange for Nathaniel to crash his own date, or even think of a plan that would result in it ending as badly as it did. And Chloe… is not only responsible for half of the akumas that have attacked Paris but is also a woman.”

“Okay,” he replied with a joyous grin, “so then I’m Nino.”

“Who not only has a girlfriend, but would also be dead to me if he were running around flirting with Ladybug?” Her face grew more unimpressed, “not to mention, Carapace.”

“Okay, so then I could be someone super famous, I could be Jagged Stone,” Adrien wiggled his eyebrows at Marinette, placing his hands on either side of her desk chair as he leaned in closer.

“You’re Jagged Stone?” Marinette replied with a laugh, and it struck Adrien just how different her laugh sounded out of costume. Maybe it was because she felt less like she had to play a character like this.

“‘Ello, Marinette,” Adrien imitated, his British accent so bad that it could have been a jailable offense, “you design an absolutely smashin’ album cover.”

It was evident that she tried to fight the smile, but it came in too quick to battle. “You really liked it, Kitty?” She asked.

“You’re really talented, my lady,” he admitted.

“Thank you,” she beamed.

It was easy to get lost in that look, far too easy. He took it in far too long, his cheeks burning when he finally realized what he was doing. He cleared his throat and continued his game, “You don’t know, I could even be Adrien Agreste.”

The color drained from her cheeks almost instantaneously. She stood up suddenly and would have toppled over instantly if Adrien’s hands didn’t quickly reach for her shoulders. She looked panicked, like an animal trapped in the headlights of a car with nowhere to go. Her eyes darted away from him and down to the ground, and Adrien’s stomach sank.

“Hey… Are you okay?” His throat constricted, “I-i didn’t mean to upset you or anything, I swear.”

“No, I um…” She trailed off, her eyes finally raising and finding purchase on somewhere other than him. He found himself turning his head over his shoulder to look as well, his heart dropping as he took in what she did.

They were gone. Every single photo of Adrien was taken down, replaced by pictures of her with Luka, Nino, Kim, Rose; Anyone but Adrien. The only image that his face peered out of was their class photo, and even that felt trumped by the absolutely immense photo of her with Alya. It was like he’d suddenly disappeared, consumed by everything else.

“My lady?” His voice couldn’t help but crack; _what was going on?_

“I’m sorry,” she said, “something happened, and I just… Of course I want to know you are! Just not right now, not for a while.” She looked back to him, liquid pooling at the bottom of bluebell eyes as she admitted, “I’m not ready yet.”

He gritted his teeth, “what happened--” He began, but found himself interrupted almost immediately.

“Marinette, Alya’s here!” Mrs. Cheng yelled from downstairs, her voice followed by the quick footsteps that no doubt belonged to one Alya Cesaire.

Marinette and Adrien’s eyes widened simultaneously, horror playing across their faces as they realized how completely and utterly doomed they were. Adrien tried to think of a plausible excuse for Chat Noir being in Marinette Dupain-Cheng’s room but came up emptyhanded. Thankfully, Ladybug’s problem-solving skills seemed to be a power not created solely by her costume.

Marinette threw open the large trunk nearest her Chaise almost immediately, grabbing Adrien by the hand and practically shoving him on top of the many blankets that lined the bottom of the trunk. “Stay here!” She furiously whispered as the sound of a hatch opening hit the air.

Adrien blinked as the trunk slammed shut, a small keyhole in it becoming his only source of light. A thump sounded above him and what he could only assume to be the pink of Marinette’s pants covered the hole. He swallowed to himself, hard.

“Marinette!” Alya’s voice called, and Adrien could only begin to imagine what the other girl’s face looked like as she tried to play it cool. “Big news, girl, big! Like you’re going to need to sit down for this one,” Alya’s grin was audible.

Adrien could practically hear his own heartbeat.

“Big enough that couldn’t send a text to me before you came here?” Marinette asked, her leg shifting against the trunk just enough that Adrien could finally see out of the keyhole.

Alya’s legs came into view, walking ever closer to Marinette as she spoke. “Big enough that it could change the very universe as we know it,” Alya replied in an ominous yet playful tone. But then, something seemed to click in her. All too suddenly, Alya stopped, never quite reaching her final destination. Adrien tried to shift his viewpoint in the keyhole to look at her, but Marinette seemed to have almost psychic abilities as her hand shifted to cover the hole once more.

“Oh,” Alya’s voice sounded, almost mingling with the echo of a groan that Adrien had unknowingly released. “You were serious about that.”

“I mean, I said…”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d do…”

He could hear Marinette’s exhale, picture her small frown; something was wrong, something was very wrong. He wanted nothing more than to hold her, but he couldn’t really do anything more than sit in the trunk, waiting for this all to be over. He shouldn’t have come, he shouldn’t have done any of this. He should have tried to find another way with Ladybug, another solution that didn’t put her life and his sanity in jeopardy. 

“I mean... I haven’t, not entirely.”

A thump sounded above Adrien’s head, accented by the clapping of Alya’s hands. The trunk creaked as he imagined she leaned closer, likely taking Marinette’s hands or wrapping her arms around her. “Good, because you are going to freak when you hear what I have to tell you!” Another creak, possibly Alya putting her head on Marinette’s shoulder? He didn’t know. “It’s just a theory, but it’s a theory with evidence!”

“About Ladybug and Chat Noir?” Marinette laughed.

“No!” Alya replied, “About Loverboy and the Pastry Princess.”

 _Loverboy…?_ Adrien stiffened as Marinette snorted, becoming a little too concerned with who exactly Marinette’s lover boy could be. “You’re reading into things too much,” Marinette replied.

 _Please be reading into things too much_ , Adrien thought.

“Did you see the way he looked at you today?” Alya breathed, by the sound of her voice, she was wishing for romance. “Or how he just lit up when he saw you this morning? Even Nino thinks something’s up!” She shifted, her hand grabbing Marinette’s and thankfully bringing light back into Adrien’s new humble abode. “Maybe you gave up too soon.”

“And maybe I should start facing reality,” Marinette sighed, finally standing up from the trunk. “Alya, I appreciate what you’re doing, I really do. You’re my best friend and I couldn’t ask for a better one. I’m lucky to have a friend who wants me to be happy so badly.” She paced the room, her full body finally coming into view for Adrien. “But I can’t keep doing this.”

“Doing what?” Alya asked, exasperated.

“Getting my head in the clouds,” Marinette replied, allowing herself to fall into her desk chair. “I mean it’s all nice in theory, it’s the fairytale that everyone wants to hear, but that’s not the way that the world works. It’s better to just accept that and open myself up to something else, falling in love with someone else.”

"Marinette,” Alya voiced at nearly the same time as Adrien, the girl finally standing up from the trunk as well. “C’mon girl, you don’t really think like that.”

“Alya,” Marinette sighed. And there it was, a look of utter defeat, one which he rarely saw his lady wear. Marinette Dupain-Cheng was tired, so tired. “Let’s face the facts, the prince doesn’t exactly end up with the baker's daughter in any of those fairytales.” She smiled, but it wasn’t one of her real ones. This was a half-smile, the ones that never reached her eyes. “Guys like Adrien Agreste don’t fall in love with girls like me,” she admitted.

And all Adrien could do in response was think one simple thing; _Yes, they do._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will hopefully be another update tomorrow.


	3. The Cat's Out of the Trunk, Good Morning Beautiful.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette explains why she refuses to date Chat, Adrien begins a new morning routine, and it turns out old emotions may die harder than habits.

Alya closed the distance between her and Marinette quickly, her arms wrapping around her smaller friend and her face burying in the girl’s hair while Adrien could only watch. The two girls stayed like that for a moment, Marinette’s eyes closing in what seemed to be thankfulness as her hand slowly patted Alya’s back. But it was only a moment, Then Alya pulled back to face her friend, her face shaped into a wicked grin.

Alya pressed her lips to her friend’s forehead with an overexaggerated mwah, a loud pop resounding as she quickly pulled back. “Well, you know what, I love you,” she declared, “and someday Adrien’s going to wake up and realize that he does too... if he hasn’t already.” 

Marinette snorted, rolling back from Alya with a bemused smile, “you’re the worst.”

“I’m the best,” Alya proclaimed. “The best listener, the best blogger, and your best friend.” Leaning her weight on the side of Marinette’s chair, Alya asked, “speaking of being your best friend, and seeing as how I don’t see anything that could possibly keep you busy… Maybe we could have a sleepover tonight? Possibly run through all my theories, some Adrien related and others not?”

And while Adrien would have loved to hear those theories and possibly see his lady’s reaction, the thought of remaining in a dark trunk didn’t exactly sit well with him, nor did the fact that he could only hold up his transformation for so long. A loud groan escaped his mouth without permission, gaining Alya’s attention and suddenly startling Marinette.

“What was that--” Alya began to ask.

“Floor!” Marinette immediately yelled, suddenly hoping up from her desk chair and walking in front of the trunk. She gestured to the floor with her back turned to Adrien, and he could only imagine the look on her face. “You know, the floors in these old houses! What are you going to do? I mean its Paris, its 2020, everyone’s having a housing crisis--Can’t fix all the floors! Even if you wanted to fix them and make them less noisy and less inconvenient. Those floors!” She quickly sat on the trunk, crossing her legs and no doubt posing herself in an innocent manner. “But um… Sleepover. You here, with me, alone. Tonight.” Her nerves were evident in her voice, “Can’t do it, really busy...Making a raincoat for a friend.”

Alya let out a laugh, “Which friend?”

“Wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.”

More laughter, Adrien heard the floor actually creak as Alya neared closer. “Alright,” she said, “you have fun with that. I’ll keep my eyes out for it on your Instagram.”

“Of course,” Marinette gave a strained reply as the trap door in her room creaked.

A moment passed in which she no doubt listened to Alya’s footsteps going down the staircase, much like Adrien was doing. He could hear her stand up from the trunk as the footsteps faded further away, a heavy inhale audible from outside. Suddenly, the lid of the chest opened entirely, Marinette’s face coming into view.

“Don’t. Say. A. Word.” Marinette immediately spat.

Adrien’s eyebrows raised, his legs hooking over the side of the trunk as he used it for leverage to pop out of the confining space. After taking in her dead serious expression, he couldn’t help but grin, “I don’t know what you’re referring to…”

She shot him an unimpressed glare.

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag,” he laughed, “or trunk, more like it.”

“And I’m going in it,” Marinette deadpanned, placing a foot in the trunk before stating rather over dramatically, “close the trunk and bury me in it.” After a moment of thought, she said, “and don’t forget to take the earrings off first.”

“No can do, m’lady,” he replied, his hand wrapping around her wrist as he pulled her closer, his grin stretching ear to ear like some sort of Cheshire Cat rip off. “You like him,” he stated, more for his pleasure than to inform her. “You like Adrien Agreste.” It felt electric and absolutely invigorating to say while looking at her, his Ladybug, and watching the pink bloom over her cheeks.

“I don’t!” She replied, “Not anymore!” But when the color left her face, she decided to correct the statement, “I mean I do, as a friend. I like Adrien as a friend now, only a friend. I don’t love h--”

He couldn’t let her say it. He cut her off before she could finish the statement, saying in an almost teasing tone, “Then prove it. You don’t even have to know who I am, just date me instead.” He rested his chin between his thumb and pointer finger with a devilish look, his other hand pulling her closer as he almost dared her to actually look at him, “I think I’m a little more handsome than the Agreste boy, wouldn’t you agree?”

Marinette jerked back her hand from his, her eyebrows knitting close to each other as she replied a simple, “No.”

He deflated slightly.

“You just don’t get it because you love doing this so much, but I…”

“You...?” Adrien’s face fell.

Marinette looked away from him. “I want a lot more than this, you know?” She cringed at her wording before clarifying, “I mean you and I could never date like normal people. We could never have picnics, watch movies at each other’s houses, go out to dinner, go to school dances, or spend a single peaceful night together.” Seeing how his face contorted in thought, she carried on, “I mean patrolling and beating up bad guys together is one thing, but there’s so much more to love. Could you even imagine Chat Noir walking me to school? That’s not something that can happen, kitty.”

“But if you let me tell you who I am--”

“Then I’ll love you just because you’re Chat Noir,” her hand drifted to his cheek, her thumb creating circles on his skin. “No one else would have a chance to know me like you do, and I might miss out on something great.” Her eyes were sincere as she stated, “If I fall in love, I want it to be as a civilian, just a normal girl. If you take off that mask right now, then I won’t get that.”

He sighed, his head leaning into her touch as he slowly closed his eyes, seemingly admitted defeat, “fine.”

* * *

“So tell me again why you’re forcing me to wake up a whole hour early,” Plagg yawned, but it did not diminish the audible nature of his irritation, “When you already show up at school well before everyone else.”

Adrien sighed, placing his head against the glass of his car door window as he also fought the urge to return to sleeping. “We’ve gone over this, Plagg. I talked to Nathalie, and she said that this was the only way she could imagine making room in my schedule for this. If this is what Marinette really wants, then…”

“Then you should walk her home instead,” Plagg whined, “so it’s not too suspicious. Heck, you could even give her a ride, maybe she’d like that.”

“Plagg.”

“You know that girl’s late all the time anyway!” Plagg reminded Adrien, “and your father said that if you show up even a minute late to one of your classes, then it’s another day of no school for you. You’re seriously putting things at risk here.”

“And?”

“And?!” Plagg’s voice grew louder but trailed off quickly. In a mere moment, the cat’s demeanor changed, his ears perking and his tail drooping as his nose pointed up in the air.

Adrien’s did as well, enticing smells filling the street as the Dupain-Cheng bakery came into view. Mrs. Cheng stood outside, propping the door open as she flipped the sign, clapping to herself with a pleased look on her face as the streets of Paris began to fill with the smell of freshly baked bread. Passerby quickly began to file off the street and into line as the scent grew, each hoping to grab some of Paris’s greatest baking before it ran out.

“Cream cheese danish-- No, a cheesy croissant-- No, a cheesy quiche…” Plagg began to demand, “or all of the above.” With a lick of his lips, the Kwami declared, “maybe you trying to date bakery girl won’t be such a bad thing…”

“I’ll say…” Adrien agreed, his mouth partially falling open at how enticing the smell of a just-opened bakery was. No wonder Ladybug always smelt so good; her parents had managed to create an aromatic paradise with mixtures of flour and yeast every morning.

The car rolled to a stop in front of the bakery, the Gorilla quickly hopping out of the driver’s seat to open Adrien’s door before he could manage to do it himself. The Gorilla nodded his head to the bakery as he opened Adrien’s door, hinting that at least one banana cream eclair would be required for the boy to carry out his plan. Adrien nodded in response as he got out of the car, giving his bodyguard a quick thumbs up and grinning as the man returned the action. Adrien was fortunate that his father paid him well, especially if he had to provide treats for his bodyguard  _ and  _ Plagg every day he insisted on walking with Marinette.

Pulling the strap of his messenger bag a little bit tighter and straightening his back, Adrien inhaled hard before getting in line. Keeping his head down and his hand angled on his forehead so that it blocked the majority of his face, he waited peacefully in the quick-moving line, mentally practicing what he would say to see Marinette at such an early hour a million times.

He was on a million and one when he got close enough for Tom Dupain to notice him, only three people between him and the counter.

“Adrien!” The baker’s voice greeted from behind the counter. Heads turned with his greeting, but the man paid them no mind as he quickly exited the kitchen to place a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “What are you doing waiting in line? You know you’re one of Marinette’s friends now; you hardly have to go through the bakery doors. You can use the back entrance like Alya.” Shrugging his shoulders and seeming to not realize even part of the reason Adrien was there, Tom added, “you can drop whatever you have for her on the kitchen counter; she’ll probably be up in a few hours.”

“Um, actually,” Adrien blinked, overwhelmed by the man. “I was hoping to get some of your pastries, you are the best baker in town. And then, you know…” Tom’s akumatization as Weredad flashed before his eyes, causing Adrien to mumble his words too lightly for the man to hear.

“Excuse me, son. I couldn’t hear that last part!” Tom smiled.

“I said…” The words were lost once more in the bustle of the bakery.

“Just a little bit louder, Adrien!”

“I was hoping to walk Marinette to school!” Adrien yelled.

Tom inhaled and Adrien flinched, unsure of how the man would react after the absolute trainwreck that was brunch with Chat Noir.

“Sabine, did you hear that?!” Tom called across the bakery, his arm snaking around Adrien’s shoulder and holding the boy closer to him like one would a son. “Adrien is walking our daughter, Marinette, to school!” His expression was practically blissful as he called to his wife, “pack up one of everything!” He swiveled back to Adrien, his face filled with so much genuine glee that Adrien almost thought that he should be the one selling happiness on billboards instead of the blond. “Now you go up there and, no matter what she says or how grumpy she may seem, wake Marinette up. I’m sure she’ll be delighted to see you once she comes to.”

* * *

The light blue light of early morning streamed in through Marinette’s windows when Adrien entered her room, providing just enough light for him to get up her staircase without hassle and sit at the edge of her bed. Still, even with the dip of his body sitting on her mattress the girl did not move, her eyes still shut tight to the morning.

Marinette released a small sigh as her body flipped his way, her feet seeking the warmth of his legs as she nestled in sweetly to her bed. Her long eyelashes fluttered only once as her knees raised back into the fetal position, murmuring words softly to herself. It would be easy to watch her, but it wasn’t exactly his place, and Adrien currently had a deadline to fulfill.

“Marinette~,” he cooed, setting a hand down on her waist to shake her gently. “Wake uuuuuup.”

“Mbleg,” Marinette responded.

“Marinetteeeee,” he tried again.

“Nuh-bluh,” she said, half-asleep.

He held back the chuckle that tickled the back of his throat, his voice teasing as he continued, “Marinette, it’s Adrien Agreste.”

“Nuh.”

“I’m here to walk you to school.”

“Un-mn.”

He rolled his eyes with a grin, allowing his side to fall against the bed as he faced her, his body filling in all the spaces where hers curved. With his face just inches from hers, he leaned forward, pressing his forehead against hers momentarily before enacting his evil plan. 

Puckering his lips, he grabbed her shoulders and, taking advantage of the short distance but never fully touching her, blew a gust of air up her nose.

Marinette’s eyes flew open and she sprang back, screaming, “AH!” And then, noticing Adrien, she screamed again, “AAAAH!” Her hand slapped down on his shoulder as her screaming stopped, once, twice, and again; her eyes scrutinizing him as if she was worried he’d bite her or something.

Adrien flinched at the contact, but couldn’t help but laugh, “Marinette!”

“Adrien!” She finally acknowledged, her jaw immediately falling open. “It’s you! You’re in my bed! Now! With me!” Her eyes widened, “Oh my god, I just hit you.”

“Your parents sent me to wake you up,” he explained.

“They sent you to wake me up?” Marinette repeated, her eyes drifting down from him to her pillow. Her mouth stretched wide as she tried to paint a distracting smile, immediately grabbing the pillow near Adrien that she’d previously been resting on and flipping it over, as if he hadn’t just seen her drooling seconds before. “I mean, that’s just-- wow, what an occasion, you waking me up and all.” 

Adrien nodded, “Yeah, I was just in the neighborhood picking up pastries, can’t beat one of your father’s croissants, and then I thought, maybe I should walk with Marinette to school today?” He twinkled at her, adding innocently, “if you want to, that is.”

It was adorable when she was awestruck. “Walk? With you?” Adrien nodded and there it was, a deep blush that Marinette had likely been holding back. “Let me just get dressed, and then we’ll…” She nodded to herself as if affirming this was real before springing to her feet. Taking in Adrien with even wider eyes, she looked between him and her bed, only seeming to inhale and never exhale. “You stay here. I’ll get dressed but, you stay here,” she stated, and it hit him that she was obviously afraid that he’d disappear into thin air.

“I’ll stay here, right here, on your bed, and I’ll wait for you. Okay?” He chuckled.

“Okay,” she finally exhaled, casting him a nervous look as she approached her stairs. He beamed at her in return and she immediately looked down, her face a ruby red as she disappeared down the stairs.

_ "...Don’t like Adrien anymore,” _ he muttered as she disappeared, rolling onto his back to grin even wider at the ceiling. “Right,” he laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, I'll make it up somehow. Had to get tested for Covid.  
> Next chapter we'll be knee deep in Adrien's grand plan.


	4. A Gang That Is Totally More Concerned With Marinette's Attendance Than Anything Else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien attempts to walk Marinette to school yet again. Attempts.

He managed to walk her to school three times before the ruse of visiting the bakery for mere pastries was called into question. Waking her up and traveling the short distance to school with Marinette felt like a gift, one which he’d rather not share. Light conversation and frequent yawns felt like they were made for just the two of them, and Adrien lived for the moments where her half-awake body would stumble and catch herself on his hands. But, like all good things, it couldn’t last. 

Familiar red hair and a knowing smirk greeted him behind the bakery’s back door on the fourth morning. Alya leaned forward on the center countertop of the kitchen as Adrien entered, Nino struggling to stand and stay conscious behind her. Her face looked like the cat who caught the canary; Ironic, seeing as he was Chat Noir. 

“Good morning, Hot Stuff,” Alya purred, not out of lust for him, but desire for his secrets. He had no doubt in his mind why she was there. In fact, the only question he had about her sudden appearance was why it had taken so long. 

He’d avoided telling them on that first day… And then, coincidentally, the three days that followed as well. Adrien was always incredibly good at changing topics, but he never thought he would make it this far without Alya cornering him. Anything that had to do with Marinette was Alya’s business, she made sure the whole class knew that. Marinette’s once crush now becoming her pursuer ranked fairly high on the list of things that were considered Alya’s business. 

“Tom and Sabine saved you a croissant, a Danish pastry, and a banana creme eclair. They said it was your usual,” Alya informed him, pulling a small cardboard box out from under the counter and letting it fall softly on the countertop. “You know...It takes a long time for these pastries to bake and… Why, I think someone might have bought all of the other banana creme eclairs,” her devious tone left little question as to who could have done such a thing. 

He swallowed hard, not daring to reach for the pastry box. He’d promised the Gorilla that eclair during their lunch break, and he could already begin to hear Plagg’s high pitched whines in his head. No, he needed them; otherwise there was no way he’d be able to even attempt to walk Marinette to school anymore. 

“Spill,” Alya demanded, “or the pastries get it.” 

Adrien sighed, looking to Nino for some form of help. Unsurprisingly, his friend responded via nodding drowsily, his hand on Alya’s shoulder as he struggled to stay upward. Nino was never a morning person, not until he’d had a coffee or five. 

Adrien had wanted to keep things secret for a while longer, maybe manage to make it until he’d somehow wooed her. After all, it wasn’t like he could tell people the full reason for his sudden concern with Marinette. God forbid if anyone caught wind of how deep his feelings went, or that he had fantasized about a future with her. If he confirmed it to Alya, then that was as good as single-handedly telling every girl in his class, and then asking them to help him. Knowing the outlandish antics of his classmates, that was just asking for a train wreck to happen. So, he did the only thing he could; he lied. 

Or tried to. 

“Would you believe that I really like pastries?” 

Alya rolled her eyes, Nino not even trying to hide how unimpressed he was as he stood behind her. Well, it was worth a shot. 

Adrien raised his hands defensively, “okay, fine! You caught me,” he groaned, “I’m not here for the croissants. Not that they’re not good croissants but--” He grimaced. “You win. I’m here for Marinette. I’ve been waking up an hour early and coming here every day to see her.” 

“You like her,” Alya grinned. 

“I do,” he admitted. Relief fell over him instantaneously, he hadn’t realized how much he wanted to tell another human being that. More than that, how liberating telling Alya and Nino would be. He opened his mouth to divulge more, but was interrupted by Alya. 

“You, Adrien Agreste, like her, Marinette Dupain Cheng,” her voice picked up volume as she spoke, excitement bubbling over. “Adrien Agreste likes Marin--” 

Adrien’s finger rose to his lips at the same time that Nino’s hand clapped over her mouth, both young men attempting to silence the girl. Within seconds, however, Nino flinched and removed his hand, whipping it on his pants as Alya momentarily stuck her tongue out at him. 

She spared Adrien a passing glance, bobbing up and down on her feet before turning on her heel very suddenly. “I’m going to tell her,” she announced, her face painted in excitement. “She didn’t believe me before, but just wait when I tell her now.” 

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Nino nearly collided with Adrien as both young men practically ran across the kitchen to block the door leading to the apartment. “Hold on there, babe.” 

“You really don’t need to do that,” Adrien breathed, “trust me, I have things covered.” 

“Covered?” Alya scoffed, “Oh, so another three years of you two dancing around each other, great.” She frowned, tapping her foot as she impatiently waited for the two to move. “Trust me. If you just give me five seconds, she’ll be all over you. You two will be on couple dates with us in no time.” Tilting her head, she continued, “So just let me through and I’ll work my magi--” 

Adrien shook his head as Nino looked to him for permission. Both boys stood up a little taller, attempting to look a bit more unmovable as she stared them down. 

“Alya, I think I know what I’m doing. I’m happy with how things are going, and I want to savor this a little--” 

“Savor?! Are you crazy? She’s trying to get over you! Someone could show up any minute and--” 

“And what?” Nino interrupted. “He has this under control!” 

“Neither of you have anything under control!” Alya’s voice peaked. 

“Alya, I need to do this the right way. I want to get to know her better, I want to spend more time with her. I want to take things slow because I love her.” 

The three almost didn’t hear the back door open, Alya’s voice far too loud as she asked incredulously, “Wait, you love her?!” 

Thankfully, it seemed that not all powers of the cat miraculous faded away when transformed. Adrien stopped himself before he responded, catching the sound of the door before anyone else. He stiffened, his jaw feeling slightly slacker as the new person came into view. With a nudge of his elbow, Nino did as well. 

Alya was the last to realize, staring at the two boys expecting an answer before realizing that their dumbstruck faces meant something. Her eyebrows knitted together as a look of horror crossed Nino, finally causing the girl to look over her shoulder. 

“Is this a bad time? Juleka asked me to drop off some things Marinette lent her.” Luka. The boy stood awkwardly in the kitchen; a warm smile painted on his face as he slowly shut the door behind him. “She’s just upstairs, right?” Evidently, He had somehow missed the conversation just moments before. 

“Any. Minute. Agreste.” Alya whispered through gritted teeth. 

* * *

“I really must be late more often than I think I am,” Marinette laughed, holding onto the straps of her backpack as she did so. The number of visitors to her room that morning had initially made the girl blush, but now she walked happily along with them, evidently finding humor in the fact that so many people were dedicated to getting her to school on time when she only had a two-minute walk. 

Beside her, Luka kept a casual pace as he walked with his bicycle, smiling at the girl as he hummed a tune under his breath. Every so often, the twos’ hips would bump or he’d reach for her back, filling the space that Adrien had existed in just a day prior. Together, Luka and Marinette already looked like a couple. 

He wanted to hate him, if only because that’s what every piece of media told him he should do, but Luka was just such a genuinely good guy that Adrien couldn’t manage it. Instead, there was only one person that he could blame. 

“You did this to yourself,” Alya whispered as she caught him staring at the two yet again. 

“Thanks,” he silently cursed himself for all of his preconceived notions of romance and chivalry. He should have let Alya tell her, he should have told her himself by now, he should have kissed her that very first day, he should have dropped his transformation and told her that he was Chat Noir-- 

Luka’s hand brushed hers and she released a soft giggle in return. 

“ _Ugh_ ,” Adrien groaned, he was an absolute idiot. The worst part about his situation was that, despite diving into battles against deadly akumas and getting injured countless times, he couldn’t bring himself to walk up to the other side of her and talk to her. The great Chat Noir, capable of constantly taking rejection from one woman but somehow unable to handle walking beside her when her attention was on someone else. God, he was needy. 

Nino silently mouthed a quick, ‘ _I’m sorry_ ,’ at him. 

Adrien mouthed, ‘ _thank you_ ,’ in return. At least it was better being with Nino and Alya as well, rather than being alone with Luka and Marinette. He couldn’t imagine watching young love unfold before him alone, especially when just yesterday he’d been scoping out spots for first dates and asking himself just what sort of flowers would properly convey his current level of adoration. 

“Is something wrong?” Of course, Luka had to be the one to turn around and ask. Of course, he had to catch a glimpse of Adrien’s self-deprecating look right before the blond could throw a fake smile on. Of course, Marinette had to stop as well, worry showing on her face. “You know, it feels like your rhythm might be all wrong today,” he began to reach for his guitar. 

“I’m fine!” Adrien immediately replied, smiling innocently. The last thing he needed was for Luka to play his guitar. Adrien might have been a model, but he’d watched enough movies to know how well men with guitars faired. “I’m just thinking right now, nothing else.” 

“Are you sure?” Marinette asked. “These past few days you’ve been really talkative, but today…” 

He didn’t want to look at her, at least not when he lied. “I’m just a little tired is all.” 

Marinette blinked, her mouth falling downwards sharply. Luka, however, seemed to accept the reasoning with a nod, turning to walk once again, his hand wrapping around Marinette’s to keep her moving. 

The nice thing about Luka was, he never pushed. The worst thing about Marinette was, she always did. 

Everyone kept walking, Luka engaging Marinette again as they entered the courtyard of the school. But Marinette didn’t pay him as much attention as before, her eyes downward as she fiddled with her phone. 

Adrien’s vibrated moments later. 

**You know, if you want, I could start bringing your order to school with me instead.**   
**So** **you** **don’t** **have to wake up early**   
**Or walk with me**   
**If you want**

He looked up to her just in time to see her say goodbye to Luka, her arms wrapping around the boy’s neck as she held him close. His arms, in turn, wrapped around her waist, holding her to him in a far too long hug before finally pulling away. Marinette grinned, pressing a firm kiss to his cheek as Luka got onto his bike. 

“Talk to you after school?” Luka asked. “I have something I want to ask you.” 

“Of course!” 

Adrien turned away from the two, turning to his phone as Nino’s arm wrapped around his shoulders. 

Alya peeked over at his screen from the other side of him, her voice comforting as she affirmed him, “I think that’s good, send it.” 

**No. I love spending time with you, Marinette.**

In the distance, he heard a ding, followed by a small gasp. If he were quick enough, he would have caught her smiling up from her phone at him. Instead, he looked back in time to see her begin to run towards her friends. Still, that was enough to make him sure that there was no way he’d give up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time on The Last Resort:  
> Chat visits Marinette to figure out what Luka asked her, Adrien regrets every single decision he's ever made, and Alya attempts to wingman for a guy who she was previously wingmanning to.


	5. Adrien Agreste, Professional Moron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien finally discovers what Luka had to speak to Marinette about and subsequently steps up his game. Alya tries to help him but doesn't take into account the logic of two idiots in love.

Again and again. Adrien was sure that Marinette had watched the footage from earlier that night no less than a hundred times, never pausing of skipping, her eyes stuck in a look of constant scrutinization. Alya had only just uploaded it a few hours ago, but through Marinette’s constant clicking, the views had skyrocketed. The cat on the chaise behind her could hardly hope to hold her attention quiet like the video of her own humiliation did. 

“You know, if you take a screenshot, it will last longer,” he joked. 

“Ugh,” she replied with a roll her eyes, finally pushing away from the desk as the video played once more. She grimaced as the scene played once more, an akumatized villain named the Chessmaster grabbing her pigtails and swinging her halfway across Paris. “All of Paris is going to see this and think, ‘there goes Ladybug, human discus.’” 

“You got distracted.” 

“I’m not supposed to get distracted, Kitty.” 

“You’re human,” he replied with a slight smile, leaning back in his chaise. If you had told him that Ladybug was capable of being anything less than perfect a week ago, he wouldn’t have believed it. But now? She wasn’t just human, she was Marinette. Being Marinette, the selfless and incredibly clumsy girl, should matter more than Ladybug. 

“I need to stop letting my thoughts about my personal life bleed into my superhero life,” she muttered, her eyes drifting down to the floor as her mind wandered elsewhere. She’d only just spoken to Luka hours before; it was clear where her mind laid. 

Adrien’s ears quirked, his face turning to look at her with an expression that said it all, _tell me more_. He’d waited there for hours for her to indulge him, give him even a hint of what he was up against. But she didn’t, her face remained caught in worry. He sat up slowly in the lounge chair, drawling, “welllll?” 

“Well?” She echoed, tearing her eyes from the floor to look at him. 

“A penny for your thoughts, my lady?” Adrien gleamed, “purr-chance an old alley cat could solve your problems?” 

“I don’t have problems,” Marinette replied, sinking back into her chair, “at least not real ones.” She grimaced, emphasizing herself as she stated, “I’d love to have _real_ problems though.” Another sigh, she reconsidered him, Chat Noir, as she seemed to contemplate what exactly she was doing. “Scoot over,” she demanded, “let me sit by you.” 

He obeyed, only lifting his eyebrows slightly as the request. She fell into the spot almost immediately; her thighs touching him as she sat close to him on the lounge chair. A part of his mind wanted to put his arm around her, but the look of exasperation on her face warned him otherwise. 

Leaning towards him, she rested her head on his shoulder, inhaling loudly. Her eyes didn’t travel towards or anywhere near him, instead of looking to Tikki as the kwami dozed away on her desk. 

“You’re stressed,” Adrien acknowledged. 

“ _You’re stressed_ ,” Marinette replied, a slight mocking to her tone. 

He chuckled, letting his head rest on top of her only slightly, “So.” 

“So?” 

“Anything to tell me?” 

More air was audibly taken into Marinette’s lungs, her posture stiffening as she sat next to him. Slowly, his foot began to tap, and, with a glimpse, he saw her eyelashes flicker in time with the beat. After a moment, she spoke, her voice hesitant. “Civilian stuff, nothing important.” 

He snorted. 

He could practically feel the unamused expression blossom upon her face as she outright stated, “Okay, let me rephrase. Romantic stuff, nothing that should be important to you,” her head pressed a little firmed against his shoulder as she gestured to him, “but you refuse to acknowledge that.” 

He nodded, letting out a slight agreeing sound as he did so. 

“And now you expect me to tell you, and if I do, you won’t drop it for the rest of the night.” 

Another nod. 

“Because, for some reason, you’re a masochist who likes to hear about the person you love dating other people,” she stated. “Which I can kind of understand because once I thought that I was that kind of selfless person, but then it turns out I wasn’t, and then Adrien dated Kagami but never really found outwheretheystoodandnowthat’sawholethingandmymindisamessand--” 

“--I’m not that kind of person either,” he interrupted. 

“No one’s that type of person,” Marinette admitted, pulling away from him only to look him square in the eyes, “everyone thinks that they’re that person, but they’re not! Every single time I saw them I wanted to be that person, but then they’d get really close like they were going to kiss and I thought I would vomit and then my brain would go white and I couldn’t look away and -- Luka!” She stopped her rambling to grab both of Adrien’s shoulders, repeating the other boy’s name once more, “Luka.” 

“Luka?” He replied, halfway amused. 

“Luka,” she affirmed before falling against the back of the chaise, repeating the name over and over again like a madwoman. For all Adrien knew, she could be going mad, “Luka, Luka, Luka. Why on earth would he do that? Why would anyone do that? I mean it just-- I-- Ugh!” She fell silent once more, repeatedly smacking her face. 

“Ok, well,” Adrien began in the break, far more confused than he let on. “You’re going to have to explain because I don’t--” 

“He asked me to hang out!” Marinette shouted. “And I said yes, of course, and then I asked, because I’m an idiot, if it was a date!” Her head rolled back against the chaise as she kicked up her feet, placing them on Adrien’s lap as she continued speaking dramatically, her arms doing half of the talking. Forming imaginary quotation marks with her fingers, she said in a Luka-esque voice, “‘only if you want it to be.’” 

“Only if you want it to be?” 

“Exactly,” she nodded. “I must have angered some sort of vengeful god or something, because before that I. Got. A. Text.” She bolted upwards into a sitting position once more, her eyes livid as she stated, “from Adrien, Adrien Agreste.” Her hands planted down on the chaise as she leaned towards the young man she knew only as Chat Noir, “ _‘I love spending time with you.’”_

“Oh no,” Adrien replied, struggling to hide the hint of humor in his voice. 

“Oh yes.” Whatever professionalism she held as Ladybug must have come with the suit, because the young woman in front of Adrien had no composure. “I mean, what does that mean? What does any of it mean? What do boys mean?” 

“Well, I--” 

“It’s a rhetorical question, Chat,” she replied. 

“It sounded like you wanted an answer,” he grinned. “Which, if you did, I would say that Adrien likes spending time with you. Which means, if I’m not mistaken, that he enjoys being around you. And boys? Well, that word means…” He trailed off purposefully, his smile widening as he teased her. 

But she took no notice of his taunt. Instead, Marinette chose to correct him. 

“He didn’t say like,” she said, sounding slightly annoyed. She turned to her side, her body curling into the chaise as blood rushed to her face. Under her breath she murmured, “he said love.” 

* * *

Alya leaned forward, her voice light as she placed her hands on Adrien’s shoulders, her face likely attempting to be soothing but the pure excitement behind her eyes made it anything but that. Her hands tightened around his shoulders, the edges of her mouth going up a bit too far as she asked him, “You’re ready?” 

“I’m ready,” he reassured, his shoulders practically bouncing up and down as he said it. 

“You’re sure?” 

“I’m sure.” 

Alya sighed, giving Adrien a good once over before nodding to herself. “Now remember, no matter what you do, no matter how you screw up; you’re going to come out ahead so long as you say the word date. You clearly state, ‘Marinette do you want to go out on a date this weekend,’ and then you’ve done it. Don’t focus on anything else; just think about the word date.” 

“Date,” Adrien repeated helpfully. 

“Date,” Alya nodded, a tiny bit of pride showing through. She’d made comments that she’d found it easier to coach Adrien in love than Marinette; he was sure this was one of those moments. 

“And if she says no?” He asked, his nerves rising. 

“She’s not going to say no,” Alya quickly replied, pulling her hand back from his shoulder to grab her phone out of her back pocket. Ignoring the look of doubt on his face, she shook her head at the boy and pressed a single button of the phone, checking her call log. Across the courtyard, she made eye contact with Nino. “Listen, Adrien. Right now, Marinette is waiting in the bakery for me to come to pick her up. I’m going to walk her this short, short distance to the park. Nino and I will coincidentally run into each other; he’ll make up some great excuse about how he left something at school and needs help getting it, then we’ll both go hide behind a tree or something in case you need help. Marinette’s going to wait there alone for a moment a little sad because wow everyone’s in love but her… and then, bam! Adrien Agreste, professional guy she could maybe love, shows up and asks her on a date. It’s short and it’s simple-- it’s not a convoluted plan involving giving half of the class flower names-- It’s perfect.” 

“I mean, it’s hardly even a plan, it’s just--” Adrien began, but cut himself off as he noticed the glare on the brunette’s face. “Maybe I should bring flowers or something? Chocolates or a drink, or…” 

Alya’s face reaffirmed him that that was not the best of plans. “You want to look spontaneous, like you just coincidentally decided, ‘oh, today I’ll ask my good friend Marinette out on a date.’ If you refuse to start with the whole I love you thing, then this is where you do start.” 

“You’re sure?” 

“I’m sure.” but his face must have portrayed some of his uncertainty because she leaned towards him once more, her hands reassuringly tightening on his shoulders as she informed him, “You know, she’d kill me for saying it but, she’s crazy about you, absolutely crazy. The second she realizes that you like her too? It’s over for every man in Paris.” 

“Thanks, Alya.” 

“Now,” she began, flicking through her contacts before landing on the pink icon of Marinette’s number. “You stay here and practice asking, Prince Charming, and I’ll go get your clumsy Cinderella.” Her grin was practically infectious as she pressed the number, holding her phone up to her face as she walked away from him. 

He watched her go, his lips still tensed in a worried frown. Soon Marinette would be there and then… Showtime, he supposed. 

“Human courting…” A voice from his pocket mused. “It’d be easier to just kiss her and explain later, but what do us kwamis know? We’re only centuries old.” 

“Shut up, Plagg,” he muttered, slightly amused as he turned to his pocket, opening it slightly to face the small cat. 

“All I’m saying is, you know she used to like you. Would it really be such an awful thing to her if the guy she used to like just so happened to kiss her? Mash mouths now, say you’re Chat Noir, snuff out the competition, and BAM! Ladynoir all over Paris.” The Kwami waved his paw like he was waving away Adrien’s worries. 

“I can’t just kiss her!” He couldn’t even comprehend a reality in which he just walked up and kissed her. That was something, but it wasn’t exactly the path to love that Adrien was willing to take. 

“You can, and you should,” Plagg said as he settled a little bit more into Adrien’s pockets. 

“I can’t, and I shouldn’t!” He likely looked crazy, getting so emotional and almost yelling into his pocket. But he couldn't’ help himself; the idea was just too much. “Marinette deserves more, Marinette deserves…” He trailed off, his mind running through the exceptionally long list of things that Marinette deserved but cutting itself off the second that she entered the park, Alya’s arm wrapped around hers. 

_Ah, he should have hidden._

“Adrien!” How she managed to project so much sound with just a squeak was a miracle to him. Alya and her had crossed the field in a matter of seconds, Marinette looking rather cheerful while Alya’s eyes stabbed daggers into him. 

“What are _you_ doing here?” Alya asked through gritted teeth, her face asking, _why didn’t you hide, you gigantic moron?_

“Oh, there’s Nino too!” Marinette pointed out, waving at a very stressed Nino peering out from behind a tree. 

“What a _coincidence_ ,” Alya’s voice was dripping with sarcasm, yet that somehow went unnoticed by the other girl. 

“I’m going to go say hi to him,” Marinette said, already beginning to walk. It wasn’t hard to notice how quick she was to leave. 

Alya’s hand reached for her arm, grabbing it and holding her in place. “NO. That’s…” The gears churned behind Alya’s eyes as Marinette shot her an innocent glance, confusion beginning to cover the blue-eyed girl’s face. “I mean, he’s my boyfriend! I want to say hi first, you know? It’s been a while since I last saw him!” 

“Oh,” Marinette nodded. 

“So, you’re going to stay here with Adrien… and maybe have a good conversation or two,” Alya said, gesturing to him momentarily before, quite suddenly, taking off in the direction of Nino. 

_So much for looking spontaneous._

“I missed you this morning…” Marinette mumbled, her eyes rained on Alya and Nino as she spoke. A blush crept across her face, but she didn’t so much as glimpse him. Across the way, Nino and Alya were putting on quite the show of the world’s most prolonged greetings. 

“Weekends, what are you gonna do?” Adrien replied, stepping a little bit closer to her as he spoke. His head turned to Alya and Nino as well, trying to put on the facade of watching the two. In reality, his eyes remained on Marinette instead. 

She gave him a half-smile, her arms crossing as she moved to hug herself slightly. 

“I mean, there is something we could do…” He began, shuffling a little bit closer to her and allowing himself to look at her fully. 

She spared him a glance, “Hm?” 

“You could go out with me.” 

The words fell on her, but she didn’t process them immediately. He could tell when she did though, because her whole body stiffened in a way that made his stomach drop. Blinking rapidly, she turned to face him, her mouth slightly ajar as she tried to rationalize what exactly was going on. “With Alya and Nino, right? You, me, Alya and Nino?” 

He let out a nervous chuckle, “No, uh… Just you and me.” 

“Just you and me?” She repeated, her face growing pinker as her eyes widened. 

“Like a movie, or…” 

“With just you and me?” She looked as if she might faint. “Alone? Together?” 

“Hanging out,” Adrien affirmed. If he were smart, he would have realized his mistake with that. 

“That’s…” She nodded, first to herself and then to him. But when it came to him, it wasn’t a small motion in the slightest. Her whole body moved with each nod, her pigtails nodding up and down as she seemed to affirm not only him but the universe that this was happening. “Us spending time together, yes! That’s good… That’s a good thing! I’d like that.” 

“Then it’s a date,” he beamed. 

And if Alya Cesaire were there and not currently going through the motions of an extremely long greeting with her boyfriend, she would have grabbed him by the shoulders and informed him that that, actually, is not how you ask someone on a date. She would have run him through the inner workings of Marinette’s mind and informed him that saying ‘it’s a date’ isn’t enough. 

But she wasn’t. And so, at that moment, Adrien stood next to the girl who he was fairly sure was the love of his life, rocking back and forth on his heels, and grinned like he had won the lottery instead of having done one of the stupidest things in his life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update: I had the flu, not Corona. Great times.
> 
> Next Chapter:  
> Adrien and Marinette finally have their first date... Only, Marinette doesn't know it.


	6. Don't Answer Your Phone, I Think This Might Be a Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first half of Adrien and Marinette's date goes off with many a hitch.

Things in life do not often go the way you plan.

This was something that Adrien already knew firsthand and would rather have not learned over again. In fact, if there were a night for everything to go right, then preferably it would have been the one that he set to go on his first date with Marinette on. If the universe had any sense of kindness, it would have allowed him that. But it didn’t, because despite being a world-famous model and a professional superhero, the world often seemed to conspire against Adrien Agreste.

He’d spent the whole night researching movies, picking an obscure fashion film with a romantic subplot that Marinette would definitely be interested in. He’d picked the perfect time, the perfect theater, and the perfect clothes for said event.

But things could never really be perfect. Unbeknownst to Adrien, a Chef had lost one of his Michelin stars that night and would be akumatized half an hour before his movie would start. Beknownst to him, the chef’s akumatization would last up until the end of their film, and his special power would be firing shrimp scampi at the people of Paris.

The results of said akumatization were the following: A text from Marinette asking if they could reschedule the viewing to later that night (impossible, seeing as how he’d booked tickets to the movie’s last showing), and no less than five showers for Adrien. But he wouldn’t let it get him down, he couldn’t let this opportunity slip through his hands. 

Which was how Adrien Agreste ended up sneaking Marinette Dupain Cheng into his home around 7:30, careful not to alert his father’s watchdog of an assistant as he snuck her into his room to watch some movies before the night was over. Even though the girl seemed excited, he couldn’t help but admit that this was one of the stupidest things he would ever do. The chat on his phone between Nino, Alya, and him reassured him of this fact. 

“Wow,” Marinette breathed as soon as the door closed behind her, “and Alya said that my balcony was excessive.” It was an act, of course, Ladybug had been in his room more times than he could count. Still, he had to admire just how genuine everything sounded.

“What, you mean a rock-climbing wall, skateboard ramps, and a Dance Dance Revolution machine from Japan aren’t the usual?” He joked, earning him the slightest shoulder bump. 

“Maybe amongst world-renown models…”

“Who would have thought that the international pretty boys club was a privileged few?” Adrien smiled, feeling a little more confident about his change in plans. “Couch is over there,” he informed her with a gesture towards it, “but movies are upstairs.”

“You pick out the movie, I have to text Alya,” Marinette shrugged, approaching his couch. “She’s having some difficulty with the homework.”

“Oh?” Evidently, Marinette forgot that there was no homework. It was obvious what she was up to, but he wasn’t too concerned about it. Sure, he thought that Alya would wait until after the date to begin texting, but considering the way she’d blown up his phone earlier that day, he wasn’t too surprised to hear that she’d been contacting Marinette as well.

Adrien quickly descended up the stairs to the second level of his room, making a beeline for the large section of DVDs that his library held. Thankfully, his father had brought a wide variety of movies for Adrien to watch, likely hoping that it would dissuade him from wanting to go outside. Of course, now that he went out whether or not his father wanted him to, the majority of the DVDs were unwatched. He scanned through them, mentally asking himself what Nino would do.

Nino had a taste for American movies, so his eyes drifted away from the French sorted titles and into the English ones. No one did movies like the United States, there were always massive explosions and exciting car crashes. Of course, Marinette wouldn’t really be into that stuff, and watching a romance movie felt like it’d raise expectations a bit. A comedy movie? He couldn’t imagine watching something like Shrek with Ladybug… Disney, then? Maybe something with big musical numbers?

 _Or a horror movie so she’ll snuggle a little closer_ , a devilish voice whispered in the back of his head; he could have sworn it sounded like Alya. She had suggested that they went to a horror movie at the theater originally.

“I mean, it couldn’t hurt,” he mumbled to himself, “not too scary, though.” He settled on a campy looking horror film, one with a cover that showed the killer right under the title so that there were no surprises.

Grabbing the movie as well as a nondescript comedy film, he leaned over the guardrails of the upper level to steal a glance at her. Strangely though, her demeanor had changed from the way she was just a few seconds ago, her body language tight as she furiously typed on her phone. Of course, he couldn’t see what she was typing from where he was, but he did catch a glimpse of the tight frown painted across her lips.

“Everything okay?” He asked, leaning a little bit further over the bars.

Marinette let out a yelp, accidentally smacking her phone to her nose. 

“Marinette?”

“Of course!” She replied, looking to him with an overly broad smile that made him feel like she was anything but okay. “I think Alya’s just… Not understanding the context of the homework, so I’m trying to explain it to her. You know, like a good friend.”

“You’re a very good friend,” Adrien replied with a laugh. “Though I have to admit, hearing you talk to Alya about this assignment is a little worrying, I don’t remember getting any assignments lately.” He couldn’t resist teasing her. “Maybe I forgot?”

“Well, it’s one that Alya missed the other day.”

“That’s strange, I also don’t remember Alya missing any school lately,” he grinned, stepping down from the bars to descend the staircase.

“Well, you must not have realized. I mean, we sit behind you so…” Marinette attempted to look relaxed, but he could tell how uncomfortable she was with her lie. Her phone rumbled once more and her hand flew to it, pinning it against the wood with a nervous smile. _What were they talking about?_

“I actually look back pretty often, especially lately,” Adrien admitted, holding up both cases for her inspection as he exited the staircase. “Your choice for which movie goes first.”

Another buzz, Marinette gave her phone another slam like that would end the messages. “The one on the left,” she breathed hastily.

“Horror it is, then,” he muttered, approaching the tv and trying to ignore the way that she quickly picked up her phone, furiously typing to someone else. He sighed, locating his DVD player and opening the disk slot. It was a little disheartening to not hold her full attention on their first date, but he understood.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marionette’s eyes widen as her phone vibrated once more. Furiously, she stabbed the phone a few times. 

By the time he’d turned around, however, she was holding the button to turn off her phone, visibly breathing heavily. Not exactly how he imagined that night going.

“S-sorry,” she stuttered.

“It’s fine,” he said, trying to push back the small tinge of worry that was rising in him. 

Once the DVD was properly set up and play was pressed, he walked back to the couch, settling himself close to Marinette. She sat a little bit straighter as his thighs brushed against her, the pink on her cheeks providing just a little bit of relief to Adrien. She couldn’t be over him yet; there was still something there. Daringly, he shifted a little bit closer, his arm just about to wrap around her when--

_Beep, Beep!_

Blinking, he shifted and his hand reached for his back pocket. However, before he could even begin to approach his phone, Marinette’s hands laced through his fingers, her face painted a dark red. 

“Don’t,” she mumbled.

“Marinette?” He asked.

Another beep and Marinette’s face turned darker if that was even possible.

“Marinette…?” He trailed off, looking down at how her then tightening hand. “I think you should let go, it might be something important.”

She sank into the couch, shaking her head wildly at him. “Don’t look at it, I’m begging you. Please don’t look at it.”

“I can’t just ignore it, what if it’s--”

“It’s not,” she interrupted. “Trust me, it’s not.”

“You don’t want me to look at the phone,” he acknowledged, taking in the mortified expression on her face. “Why, is it something bad?”

“Yes,” she grimaced.

“Embarrassing?” 

She nodded.

He took her in, her tensed shoulders and pursed lips. He acknowledged the width of her eyes, the paleness to her skin, and the desperate way she clung to his hand. He saw all of it and he realized… He kind of liked it, just a little bit. Marinette was always nervous around him, of course, but he never really got to enjoy the effect that he had on her.

Knowing that she was Ladybug and knowing that Marinette would only put up with so much from Chat Noir, he sort of wanted to take advantage of his situation a little bit and watch her squirm. Was he a bad guy for that? Maybe but life was fun when you were bad every once in a while.

“I’m going to read it,” he announced, the corner of his mouth twitching. Marinette had just begun to launch into a long list of reasons why he shouldn’t do it, but curiosity would always win out when it came to Adrien Agreste.

A few things happened at once. Adrien’s free hand dove back into his jean pocket, digging his phone out. Marinette, seeing the danger, promptly reached for his wrist, attempting to stop him. And Adrien, not expecting the girl to be so bold with his civilian self, found himself tangled in her, his phone still in his hand but his body unable to bring it to his face.

Unbeknownst to Marinette, he was already pretty well versed in the whole ‘people trying to hold him down and take things out of his hands’ sort of thing. With what was likely a shit-eating grin, he took advantage of their situation, allowing himself to fall against the couch and take Marinette with him. His side flopped against the white leather, Marinette landing on his chest half a second later with a small squeak.

One glimpse at her flustered face and he couldn’t help but laugh, taking advantage of her nerves and managing to wrestle his hands out of her grasp. Triumphantly, he held his phone in front of his face, his thumb pressing against the on button only to…

“Hey!” He chuckled, bolting upwards as Marinette’s back fell against the couch, the prized phone in her grasp. Obviously, she had much to learn when it came to playfighting, such as never to let your enemy get you on your back.

Shaking his head to himself, he let himself fall on top of her. The splaying of his arms and legs ensured that he did not touch the girl, but effectively trapped her against the couch. Her eyes shut tight and her body wrapped protectively around the phone, she didn’t acknowledge him, except when...

 _PSH_ , another gust of air blew up Marinette’s nose. The girl’s eyes shot open, her limbs practically springing open and nearly causing her to drop the phone. The girl on the television screen screamed in the distance, but she couldn’t be experiencing even half of the terror Marinette was then.

“Boo,” Adrien breathed, his face lingering dangerously close to hers. It’d be so easy to bridge the gap and kiss her then, but somehow, he withheld.

Marinette released a whimper, her fingers flexing against the back of the phone.

Adrien glowed in response, another laugh dancing at the back of his throat.

He could have stayed like that forever, his green eyes gazing into her baby blues, her hot breath beating against his skin, the girl that he loved laying flustered beneath him. But Marinette couldn’t, that was evident. “It’s a joke,” she said, “Alya’s telling you a joke. Ha ha, it’s very funny but…” She shoved the phone towards his chest, obviously hoping that that would lure him away.

“You’re this worked up over a joke?” He asked, easily accepting the phone but not so easily pulled away from her. He sat back up on the couch, part of him noting that at least a quarter of the movie had gone by during their antics. Pressing his finger to the scanner, the phone unlocked.

“Well, it’s…” She swallowed, still laying on the couch beside him. “I…”

**Hey Adrien, just trying to clear things up for Marinette here.**

**When you asked her to go out with you and spend time alone… That was a date, right?**

He paled at Alya’s message.

“Crazy, right?” Marinette babbled beside him, her eyes glued to the ceiling as she didn’t dare move. “Absolutely insane.”

He couldn’t help the way that his heart dropped, and he couldn’t fight the way that his mouth grew dry. He stared so intensely at the message that it might as well have been tattooed inside of his eyelids. Was he stupid? Maybe a little bit, perhaps he’d gotten his hopes up too far and now Marinette would be rejecting both Adrien and Chat Noir. Just fun times between friends, that’s all this would ever be.

“Adrien?” She asked cautiously. 

_Give up_ , screamed the voice at the back of his head. That voice didn’t belong to anyone but himself, yet it felt like a chorus sung by the rest of the world. Still, he was a superhero, he was Adrien Agreste; and he was in love, that had to count for something.

“This is a date,” he readied himself for whatever would come next, “I’m trying to date you, Marinette, but you’re making it very hard.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time on the Last Resort:  
> Marinette reacts, Adrien tries to one-up Luka, and Alya somehow cons the boys into a field trip.


	7. Adrien Agreste: Master of Subtlety, Tact, and Timing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette reacts to finding out that her not a date is a date, Alya points out an important detail, and the boys are roped into the world's worst field trip.

Eons seemed to pass, but it was actually only a matter of seconds before Marinette responded, her body releasing hair in a low hiss. Slowly, she sat up, her eyes wide and her hands bunched into fists on her thighs as she looked to Adrien with a horrified expression. Her shoulders rose and fell with every slowing breath, and he could tell that her mind was racing through a thousand different scenarios to explain the statement. Finally, her eyes cast away from him, directing themselves to the floor as she decided to speak. 

“You don’t have to say that just because Alya told you I might think it’s a date, or that I might like you or something weird,” she said, obviously having settled on some sort of explanation. 

“I’m not.” 

With a sharp inhale, Marinette flew back into staring at him, her hands clenching visibly tighter. “Oh.” 

“Oh,” he echoed. 

“Um, I…” She began with a blink. “If I’d have known, I wouldn’t come dressed like this...Or maybe I would have tried a little bit harder to get to the movie-- Not that I didn’t try! I just… I would have, you know, been a bit better.” Taking in her previous statement, she cringed, leaning towards him a bit more before jumping into a new explanation. “That’s not what I mean; this isn’t how I meant it to go. I mean-- I, you, wow! That’s…” 

“No, it’s okay!” Adrien grimaced, “I should have been clearer. That’s on me, that’s…” He trailed off, shaking his head to himself. “Me, all me.” 

“Not you! No, um, me. My fault. I did this.” Marinette’s eyebrows knitted together, “I understand if you don’t want to-- I mean tonight is just-- I’m really sorry that I ruined things here.” 

He shook his head. “You didn’t ruin anything,” he admitted. “If you didn’t want to, we could just spend time together or you could leave, whatever you’re more comfortable with. I don’t want you to feel like you have to be a part of a date that you didn’t even technically agree to.” 

“I…” Her eyes drifted down to her hands and Adrien’s followed, noting how she gripped herself hard enough to turn the skin white. “I want this to be a date,” she mumbled, wringing her hands. 

His hands landed on top of hers, just the contact of his skin being enough to cause her grip to soften. Her eyes rose to meet his softened expression, coaxed by his reassuring squeeze. “Then it’s a date,” he whispered, eliciting a smile from the girl. 

“I’m on a date with Adrien Agreste,” she repeated, and though he knew it was more for her ears than him and he snorted. 

“You make spending time with me sound so much cooler than it really is.” 

“Because it’s not like every girl in Paris has fantasized about this exact moment,” Marinette replied, her face red as she attempted the joke. Seeing the overly proud look on his face, she added, “not me.” It was a clear lie. 

“Riiiiiiiiiiiight,” he struggled not to laugh and besides herself, she actually did. 

With that laugh, she allowed her fingers to loosen even more, Adrien’s filling the gaps where they were once knitted together. With a small tug, he pulled her up closer to him. She obliged him easily, throwing her legs over the side of the couch to slip into a sitting position beside him, the nerves still visible on her face. 

“I don’t think I’ve watched a minute of this movie,” she began, still looking at him rather than the screen. She sounded slightly nervous as she said it, like he’d be offended that she didn’t take in a second of a cheap horror movie in between all that had happened. 

“I don’t think I have either,” he reassured her, his fingers tightening around hers. “What do you think is going on?” He asked. 

She looked back at the screen, cocking her head as she did so. He couldn’t help but notice that she also shifted a bit closer. “I think… Maybe they’re coworkers?” Almost as if on cue, the couple on the screen began to kiss and Marinette’s face fell, “maybe not?” 

“They’re coworkers at the military base outside of town,” Adrien began to theorize, “and before all of this they didn’t like each other, but now?” 

“They’re the last two people alive,” Marinette shrugged. 

“And his lips have the cure to zombie bites,” Adrien joked, earning him an eye roll. “It’s a b movie, don’t expect high-quality plots here.” 

The two spent the rest of the night hypothesizing, each trying to nail down the movie’s plot but never really getting close. Somehow his arm winded up around her, and her legs ended up in his lap. They both made no moves to acknowledge it, but they were acutely aware of it all. Every time she scooted closer, his heart soared. Every time he whispered dumb observations about the movie, one of her hands rose to cover the bottom of her face. And every time they looked at each other out of the corner of their eyes, they caught the other one looking. 

They’d both spend the night wanting more but never asking. Just their hands remaining intertwined the whole time was enough for then. 

* * *

“I could kill you,” Alya proclaimed, her body pacing across the length of the picnic blanket as Nino and Adrien looked on. “I could honestly just, right here and now, murder you with my bare hands.” 

“I think it went well--” 

“No, Nino. It did not go well, not as well as it should have gone,” Alya said, rolling her eyes. “Marinette didn’t even know she was on a date at first, and even though she agreed, Adrien ended up forgetting to do two of the most important things: kissing the girl and Getting. Another. Date.” Alya cringed, “you could have lived without doing both of them, but at least one of those two things needed to happen.” Her hand flew to her hair as she let out an exasperated sigh, “and now we’re stuck in limbo _again_.” 

“But he’s on her mind,” Nino responded with a wink, sticking his hand out to Adrien for a fist bump. 

“As a maybe,” Alya said. “As in, maybe this will happen again. Maybe in this life, I might have the slightest opportunity to go out on another date with Adrien. Maybe I didn’t screw things up completely, because if I definitely didn’t then some sort of sign that he liked me would have come flying out of the sky by now! But. It. Didn’t.” 

“She could have asked as well,” Adrien argued. “More than that, I didn’t want to kiss her if I wasn’t sure. Maybe she didn’t have as good of a time as I hope--” 

“She had a great time,” Alya groaned. “She had an absolutely amazing time,” she flourished her heart emoji covered phone screen to him for a mere moment to confirm this statement. “It’s all I’ve been hearing about for the past eight hours!” 

“Well, that’s good,” Nino interrupted. 

“She couldn’t even get out a word around you before,” Alya was not done with Adrien yet. “You really think that Marinette is going to stand up in front of you and ask you on a date? Please, with all that’s happened, the girl is freaking out. It would take an actual miracle for her to manage to do it.” 

“Marinette is a lot braver than you think,” Adrien mused, leaning back on his hands. 

“Oh, I know that Marinette’s brave. The problem with her isn’t bravery,” Alya grimaced, “it’s that she cares too much about everyone else. If anything, now she’s worried that she’s made you feel uncomfortable or done something wrong. More than that, might I remind you that Marinette isn’t the only one who was into you? And she’s hardly forgotten about Kagami’s feelings--” 

“Neither have I, and might I remind you that Kagami very clearly stated that while she enjoys my company, she knows a lost cause when she sees it.” 

“Congrats on being a lost cause, Sunshine--” 

“Well, I’m not proud of it; I’m just saying that Marinette knows--” 

“That you and that Kagami had a relationship that was very important to the both of you--” 

“--And that relationship was cherished but is now over--” 

“She wasn’t a part of that conversation, so imagine how she’s feeling!” Alya declared, and with another flourish, she showed Adrien a row of crying faces on her text screen, her hand moving away too quickly for him to read the messages beneath them. “She’s freaking out, even if she won’t admit it. Right now, in the back of her mind she’s going through a thousand reasons why she shouldn’t have even gone to your house last night.” 

“I asked her to be at my house, why would she think--” 

“Because you didn’t kiss her!” 

“I’ll do it next time!” 

“ _When is next time?_ ” 

“Dudes,” Nino interrupted. “Honestly, love the back and forth, it’s really great and all, but-- Where’s. The. Food.” Having lost his patience with talking about Marinette, Nino focused on the facts at hand more than the speculations of his two friends. “You said this would be a picnic, Alya, so where’s the actual picnic part of this? You’ve been sitting by that basket all day and I’m really starting to think that it’s empty.” 

Adrien blinked, remembering the actual point of coming to the park in the first place. He looked to Alya as well, his mouth slightly agape just as Nino’s was. Alya had called the two of them out for a fun day at the park, but the fun part hasn’t exactly started before she began probing him for information about his date. Now that he was looking at Alya’s guilty face, his stomach began to sink. 

“About that…” She raised her hands defensively, her face taking on a sheepish smile. “You two wouldn’t have agreed otherwise. And, well, Marinette would do it too...Plus, I’m not going to lie and say it isn’t fun.” 

“No,” Adrien was the first to reply. 

“Oh, come on! You aren’t the least bit curious?” 

“No,” he groaned once more, his hand slapping over his mouth as the realization hit him. Beside him, Nino stiffened, sporting the same blush that Adrien had begun to form. 

“It’s not today, is it?” Nino muttered. 

“Oh, it is,” Alya grumbled, “and after the very _confusing_ events of last night, she’s asked me to sit here and watch. Of course, she didn’t outright say it was a date, but I can put two and two together.” 

* * *

In case you were wondering, there are a few things that you should not do when you are sickly in love. Adrien couldn’t list them all, there were probably twelve or more, but he was confident that one of the very first things not to do was this: 

Do not, absolutely do not, spy on the date of the person you love. 

Especially if you are not a part of it. 

Apparently, Marinette didn’t follow those rules though, much to his surprise. But still, out of the kindness of his heart, he diverted his eyes. It was hard, hearing the light laughter of his lady and persistent strumming of a guitar, but he knew that it was best for everyone if he didn’t look. So he fell onto his back, staring at the sky as Alya and Nino chattered beside him, trying to tune out visions of all too familiar smiles and softs touches, pretending that he was anywhere else in the world. 

The thing that bothered him most was, why couldn’t he get himself to leave? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to Packetdancer for the name of this chapter!
> 
> Next time on the Last Resort:  
> Adrien tries not to listen in on Marinette's date, Chat Noir makes an appearance, Luka tries to find a steady rhythm, Marinette wonders why love is so hard, and an Akuma finally attacks.


	8. No One Gets It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luka struggles with Marinette's heart song, Adrien gets caught spying, Marinette and Alya fight, and Chat Noir attempts to explain the unexplainable.

Da, da,  _ CLUNK _ . 

Adrien never considered himself to be a mean person, but if anything was a relief to his ears, then it had to be that. Sure, Luka was nice, and smart, and caring-- maybe in another life, Adrien would be okay with the idea of the blue-haired young man taking his lady’s hand. But in this life, he couldn’t help but feel relieved at every uneven beat, every shrill harmony. Luka was trying to capture Marinette’s heart song, but it wasn’t pretty. 

And to be honest, so long as she was with Luka, Adrien didn’t want it to be. 

Laying on his back and staring at the sky, Adrien had found himself listening to the date taking place across the park more than he cared to. Initially, he had written it off as not wanting to listen to the romantic adventures of his best friend and his girlfriend, but after the two had sunk into a loving yet quiet embrace, Adrien had kept listening. With every nervous giggle from Marinette’s lips Adrien tensed, his body only relaxing when Luka insisted on trying to form a song once more, calmed by the fact that Luka could never quite pin down the exact sound of her heart. 

Sure, he got close but, Adrien was certain that not even Marinette knew what notes her heart was playing. 

The downside was, neither did he. 

“One step closer, and a thousand steps back,” Adrien murmured to himself. 

“Cheer up, sunshine,” Alya had clearly overheard him, “it doesn’t look like things are going all that great anyway.” Noting his eyebrow raise, Alya continued, leaning over into his field of vision. “She’s been texting me for the last hour, and she has no idea what she’s doing. Luka keeps looking over at her and, while I can tell that he wants to do something, she can’t.” 

Adrien grimaced. 

Alya snorted in response as another ding came in, waving her phone in the air. “He chose to sit on the side of the fountain thinking it might be nice and all, it’s not and her back is getting wet. He offered her his coat, but she doesn’t know if taking it officially makes this a date or not. Now she’s getting cold and asking me what will happen if she takes his coat.” 

Adrien bit back a grin, shaking his head at the girl.  _ Only Marinette…  _ Leave it to her to freeze to death while fretting about the possibilities. 

Another ding, Adrien found himself sitting up to get a good look at the pair as Alya read off her phone, but the color left his face almost immediately as he did so. Alya’s words didn’t hit him; he focused instead on how close the two were, Marinette’s legs practically on top of Luka’s as she sat beside him, her head resting softly on his shoulder. It wasn’t too much unlike the way she was with Adrien the other night. 

Adrien almost let himself fall backward, almost. Before he could, the girl’s eyes drifted downwards again, typing out another hasty text as Luka began to strum his guitar once more. Alya let off an audible gasp as her phone rang, earning her not only Adrien’s attention but the far less nosy Nino’s as well. 

“She thinks he wants to kiss her?” Alya’s voice rang out as more of a question that a statement as the girl looked up to her friend, her eyes scanning the duo for visual cues. 

“What?” Adrien blinked. 

“She…She needs air?” Alya squinted at her phone just as Marinette finished typing again, the black-haired girl’s eyes scanning the horizon as her friend read her message not so far away. “Oh girl,  _ no _ .” 

“What?” Adrien repeated, tearing his eyes away from the scene. Beside him, Nino was leaning into Alya’s shoulder to read her screen, the pale looks on his friend’s face sending Adrien’s stomach into knots. 

“You need to go, dude,” Nino replied before Alya could, practically crawling over his girlfriend to reach for his friend and grab his shoulders, “like now.” 

“Now? What do you mean--?” Adrien looked to his friend then back to Marinette, almost immediately realizing what exactly was going on. Marinette had gotten up from the fountain, talking to Luka in exaggerated gestures as she began to walk, her eyes still searching. The look on her face reassured him of her purpose; she was looking for Alya. 

Adrien didn’t know it was physically possible for a person to actually pop onto their feet, nor for his heart to beat as fast as it could. A million different excuses rang through his head, but not a single one of them seemed plausible. Telling the truth, as preferable as that seemed, didn’t seem like enough in this situation. 

And so, when Marinette’s eyes finally found their way on the horizon, landing on his mop of blond hair… 

He ran.

* * *

“I just don’t understand why you would do that--” Marinette’s voice cracked. 

“Why would  _ you  _ invite  _ me  _ to watch  _ your date? _ ” Alya’s tone was tense. 

Adrien sighed, leaning against the trunk of a not so far off tree as he listened to the two, his heart beating in his ears as the feelings of guilt and disappointment rose in him. If he were a hero, a real hero, he would have come to break it up by now instead of leaving Nino. But instead, he waited, his forehead touching the rough bark of a tree trunk as he wished that he were anywhere but there, having done anything but this. 

“It’s not your fault,” a soft voice rang from his pocket. 

“It kind of is,” Adrien argued. “If I had any sense, I would have just gone home. If I were any faster, Marinette wouldn’t have seen me and then...” 

“Yeah, you’re in the wrong. Yeah, you did something bad,” Plagg’s voice carried out of the pocket, and Adrien could feel the Kwami stretch within it as if waking up from a long nap. With his tone of voice, Adrien didn’t doubt that Plagg had been sleeping. “But Glasses did too, even if she thought it might help her friend. She probably got so tired of watching this back and forth that she just…” 

“I’m the reason there’s a back and forth,” Adrien sighed, watching the two girls point fingers. “I’m the reason this is happening.” 

“Friends  _ fight _ . It happens, Adrien.” 

But it didn’t feel like just that. Both girls were teetering near the edge of tears, Marinette unable to comprehend what was going on and Luka, too far away from it all to hear a thing, sitting alone looking anxiously for Marinette. It felt like, in a moment, Adrien had caused the whole world to implode. 

And then it happened. 

“Well, I’m sorry, Marinette!” Alya’s voice reached hysterics, the girl teething with rage. Adrien’s eyes flew closed, the sound of her stomping feet warning of the tidal wave to come. “I’m so sorry that I care about you! I’m so sorry that I’m tired of watching this back and forth and thought that maybe bringing him here would do something, that you two would open your eyes! But more than that…” Adrien cringed in anticipation, “I’m sorry that you can’t grow up, face the facts, and take in what’s happening right in front of you!” 

“This is going too far; someone needs to stop them,” Adrien mumbled under his breath, pressing his head harder into the bark. 

Ragged breaths hit the air, Adrien wasn’t sure if they were his or hers. “I’m sorry that you think it’s okay to hurt people to make a point!” 

“Hurt people? Marinette, you’re the only person hurting someone, yourself,” Alya spat. 

Both girls deflated at the statement, their eyes impossibly wide as wordlessness settled in around them. Another noise ripped through the air, a voiceless sob, Adrien couldn’t quite identify where it came from. Nino shifted beside Alya, his hand wrapping around her arm but receiving no response. 

“Marinette…” Alya began. 

“I’m going to find Adrien,” Marinette decided. “I don’t know what I’ll say to him or Luka, but you just…” Marinette shook her head to herself. 

Somehow, from the squirming in his pocket, Adrien could tell she wouldn’t find him. Mentally cursing himself as his mind went through a thousand unlikely scenarios, scenes that would more likely play out with his father than Marinette, Adrien whispered the transformation words. In a second, Chat Noir stood where Adrien once did. 

* * *

“Adrien?” Marinette’s voice called out at half volume, stress evident on her face. He felt terrible. If he had any sense, he would have revealed himself by now, but that fear, the fear of rejection or disappointment if Adrien were to show up at that moment; that fear kept him grounded. Instead, he listened to her, calling mournfully in the air as Luka, unaware of what was going on, also began to look worryingly for her. Still, her voice called out, “Adrien,” as if that was the only thing that mattered. 

What was she thinking then? He had no idea. Was he the one who was just a friend? He hoped not, but the alternative of being less than that was frightening as well. From her point of view, there were likely too many people to be mad at. 

“I can’t hide…” Adrien sighed, unsure if it was the feelings of guilt or the tiredness of his legs that was compelling him to do the right thing. “I need to face the music.” 

Of course, no sooner had he decided to face it then that music changed tones entirely. 

“Chat?” Marinette’s voice asked before he could finish saying his transformation words, the girl having finally peaked around his tree. 

He jumped back immediately, hitting the back of his head against the tree as Marinette came into view, her eyebrows knit with worry and a bit of something else… 

Mortification. “You too? Should I be looking for Theo and Nathaniel too? Has Alya somehow managed to bring every guy who’s ever liked me to this?” Her eyes widened as she took in his guilty face, the girl beginning to delve into rambles. “Are you all coordinated? Did everyone come here to see this? Marinette’s first date, screening at five? Oh god, you didn’t run into Adrien, did you?” She tensed, looking to either side of her as if actually looking for Theo and Nathaniel. “Is this some plot? Some sign from the universe that I’m meant to be alone?” 

“Um, no, this is--” 

Marinette sighed, letting her head fall as she continued, “Luka’s going to be so mad. Well, not mad-- Luka doesn’t get mad, not really. But, ugh, I’m screwing this up, I’m screwing everything up-- And now here you are and everyone else when I only wanted Alya.” 

Comfort, comforting; that was obviously what she was looking for here. Hesitantly, Adrien wrapped his arms around her, giving her a firm squeeze as he tried to find the right words to say to her. "If it’s any consolation, I don’t think anyone else wanted to be here.” Those weren’t the right words. 

Marinette stiffened, pulling away from him with an odd look on her face. Said look only disappeared when his ears fell, seemingly placated by the idea that Chat knew that wasn’t the right thing to say. “Adrien,” she repeated. 

“Yes?” He replied instinctually, his eyes immediately widening at having said it. At least two years of having kept a secret identity, and this was how he was going down-- 

“Where is Adrien?” Oh, thank god. “Have you seen him?” 

“Adrien, who?” He asked, attempting a joking tone. Honestly, how he even made it a year, he wasn’t sure-- Marinette looked sufficiently unimpressed, her arms crossed and her foot-stomping as she glared at him. “Oh, the Agreste guy. Big, famous model? Stunningly handsome? Honestly? I think I saw him go home.” 

Marinette’s face fell. 

“-- But who knows, maybe he’ll come back!” 

Her face did not rise. Noting the proximity between the two of them, the girl having lingered in front of him despite pulling away, she took a step back. “This is hard.” 

“ _ Excuse me? _ ” 

“Love, you idiot,” she grimaced. “Love is hard; all of it is hard. I have no idea what I’m doing anymore.” She shook her head, “I have no idea what’s happening, no idea what I’m supposed to do, and no idea why all of a sudden,  _ Adrien Agreste  _ wanted to go on a  _ date  _ with  _ me _ .” Her nose wrinkled at the memory, and he wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing. “And now Luka’s waiting there with his lips puckered, Adrien’s run off and I don’t even know what he thinks of me, and Alya’s upset with me even though I feel like I have a little bit more of a right to be upset here. Not to mention you--” 

“Don’t mention me,” this was going down as one of his worst ideas. 

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Marinette admitted, taking the steps forward towards him, only to let her head fall against her shoulder. “I mean, how does any of this work? Is this how love is? If so, why do people want it so badly.” 

“Hey, no one knows what they’re doing,” he tried, his unsure hands reaching for her shoulders. She eased into his touch, letting his hands sit on her shoulders with no resistance. Touching her was different as Chat Noir; she seemed more within his reach this way than when he was Adrien Agreste. “I mean, love, right?” He asked with a shrug, “no one gets it.” 

“Nino and Alya,” she began. 

His hands tightened around her shoulders, pushing her further into his chest to stop her. “They don’t get it either.” 

She sighed, allowing her hands to reach up to him, her warm skin pressing against his chest as she pulled away. Their eyes met, his breath hitched. “Chat Noir, why do people do this to themselves?” 

“Because it’s worth it,” he muttered. “You’re worth it.” 

“Chat, I…” She blinked. 

Once. 

Twice. 

Again. 

Whatever she was going to say was lost to not only him, but the world as well. Eyes so wide that her lids formed perfect circles and skin turning white, Adrien didn’t have the chance to question her before Marinette’s mouth fell open, yelling that awful word, “Akuma!” 

In a second, she had tackled him out of harm’s way, the masked hero gazing up disoriented as his back hit the ground. Marinette landed on top of him with a small thump, her hands pushing onto his chest to sit up as she looked over her shoulder rather than at him. 

“Alya.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know what you're thinking, "was that a boner joke?"  
> Listen kids, I've worked really hard and we're on like the eighth chapter, I deserved at least one boner joke. More so, this work is a comedy. If you want stories devoid of boner jokes, check out my other Miraculous Ladybug fanfics.
> 
> Next time on the Last Resort:  
> Alya's akumatized, Nino gets to speak more than he has any other chapter, Luka worries that Marinette is in trouble, Adrien worries that Marinette is onto him, and Marinette realizes that she's hurt her best friend.  
> Also, there's a kiss, but it's not at all like you want it to be.


	9. Feel-ings

A few things went through Adrien’s mind at that moment, the first being that, very concerningly, there was a sword planted in the ground beside him. The second was that he’d never seen a technologically advanced knight before, especially one with a phone secured to the inner handle of their shield. Still, he had to hand it to Alya; her akumatizations were always creative. Of course, the third was that as nice as it was having Marinette sitting on top of him, she was not transformed and therefore in a great deal of trouble. Not that the girl acknowledged it, however.

“Alya, I get it. You’re upset, you feel like I don’t appreciate your efforts, and I know that you want me to be happy,” Marinette began, obviously not understanding the critical component of their situation. Adrien’s eyes widened as the sword beside him turned to pixels, a far off siren screaming in his head. “But I think that part of me being happy is that I have to start making my own mistakes and facing facts; I didn’t do that today when I asked you to sit in the wings and watch me go out with Luka. I roped you in, and then I didn’t even consider your opinion on things.” The Akuma was not calming down, oh god, the Akuma was not calming down, Marinette was just making it twice as sure of its mission. “I know that you think I should be with Adrien, and I know that last night I probably made a huge mistake with him. But you forcing us into these situations, forcing us together, that’s not going to fix things--”

Crap. As soon as he looked up, he saw it, Alya drawing the string back on a bow-- He did not want to figure out what those arrows did. In a heartbeat, he rolled over on top of her, grimacing. The girl’s eyes widened beneath him, her body stiffening as she realized that her talk wasn’t working. 

Still, with tears growing in the corner of her eyes, she would not relent, “Chat, please, I need to talk to Alya.”

Evidently, this plan of action was far worse than the one before. “Get off of her,” Alya roared, drawing back her bow, “you’re not a part of this happily ever after! She’s meant to be with Adrien, she needs to be with Adrien! It’s the only way she’ll be happy!”

Adrien bolted up to his knees, narrowly missing the arrow as it went soaring past his head. He had no idea what it did, and he really didn’t want to find out either. “Are you sure the princess can’t have a cat instead?” He half-joked, grimacing as the girl readied another arrow. “Right, maybe that’s a little too nontraditional for you.” He was slowly becoming more sure that this would have been a great time to be Adrien instead.

“Chat,” Marinette hissed, shoving him off him as another arrow went flying by. His eyes widened as he realized that the area it hit turned to lush green, confirming his fears that Alya was planning to slowly hack the world into her fairytale plan. However, he had barely the time to process this victory before Marinette grabbed his arm, yanking him upwards. “Not exactly the time to sit and contemplate, Kitty.”

“You know, now would be a good time for my lady to show up,” he countered, eyeing at the knight who was more concerned with scrolling through her phone for something at the moment, the bow and arrows having vanished. He did not have a great feeling about things.

“I’m sure that when she can find an opening, she’ll show up,” Marinette retorted, running to the side as Alya selected her weapon, a large lance, and began to charge. “Until then, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but, I just so happen to have a knight in shining armor trying to save me from my mundane life.”

“My name is Chevaliere!” Alya screamed, narrowly missing Marinette to collide with a tree, the tip of her lance breaking as she did so. Quickly, the Akuma whipped out her shield, cycling through the list once more.

“A distraction would be nice,” Adrien called.

“I’m thinking!” Marinette growled. “This would be a great time for anyone else to show up!”

“And I’m sure that if the miraculous weren’t being kept in a box, _Princess_ ,” he winced as Alya went whirring by him, thankfully hitting another tree, “we’d have some help.”

“Well, I’m sorry that Ladybug didn’t think to pack her whole room!” Marinette proclaimed, her hands on her hips in a warning position as Alya struggled to get her lance disengaged from the tree. “Might I remind you, Chat, that I was on a date!”

“Oh, trust me,” Adrien said with a grimace, “I _know_.”

“Okay, plan c,” She said, not bothering to elaborate as to what plan a or b was. Likely they were far more preferable things, such as showing up already transformed as Ladybug or getting away and becoming ladybug. Since the Akuma wouldn’t let her leave her eyesight, however. Both Marinette and Adrien shot a glance at the Akuma, noting how she was only momentarily distracted by getting her lance out of the tree. Thankfully, she was too distracted to change weapons.

Still, Adrien didn’t fully understand.

He could see her fight back a groan, the girl gesturing to her earrings with a motion that indicated she needed his help. But how exactly? She couldn’t just pop them off, Akuma distracted or not; eventually the girl was going to look at them.

_Oh._

There are things that you learn while fighting in a superhero team for years on end. Hopefully, over time one of those things would be how to read your partner’s body language. The only problem was, he could only just barely hope to read it correctly. Marinette was, in many ways, a puzzle that Adrien could only just barely hope to solve. It took him years to even find out what he stuttering meant--

The Akuma withdrew her weapon, the splintering of wood hitting the air. Efficiently, she pulled out her phone once more, cycling through options as she began to walk meaningly towards them, a grin painted upon her features. Internally, they began to count, all they had to do was wait for her to move first.

She didn’t disappoint.

Another round of arrows, the perfect excuse to tackle Marinette. Adrien shoved her down to the ground and out of the way, very much looking as if it was an unplanned action. His hands flew to her earrings as the Akuma shrieked, snatching one off of her head with a motion that appeared to cradle her head.

They rolled again, Marinette giving a performative yelp as she ended up on top of him, the back of her other earring pressing into his palm. He couldn’t help but grin as the next arrow flew, jerking Marinette’s head out of the way and grabbing the last piece of the puzzle while the Akuma screamed, cycling weapons once more to account for her closer distance, her head tucked down to look at her phone.

“I could make a joke, but,” he caught Marinette’s warning look as they scattered to their feet, desperately dashing for the nearest tree. “It’d probably _bug_ you.”

She groaned. 

The two of them disappeared behind it, a green light shining moments later.

* * *

When Cheavlierre looked up, the playing field was a bit different. No longer was there Chat Noir, but rather Marinette all alone. She smiled innocently, her back against a tree. Had she given up?

“You’re right,” Marinette began as the Akuma cautiously approached, on high alert for anything strange to happen. Secretly, Alya felt a bit of relief, finally Marinette was making things easy. “It’s Adrien, it was always Adrien. I was stupid to think otherwise.”

Victory.

“I love Adrien,” Marinette declared with a tranquil smile, her arms outstretched, “and he loves me. So pick me up and take me to him, my dear knight. I’m ready for my happily ever after to begin.”

That’s the thing about Akumas, isn’t it? Even when Hawkmoth is screaming in their ears to do otherwise, they want to fulfill their personal goal more than anything. Even if that means stepping forward into an obvious trap, reaching out to their friend, and getting dangerously close to a tree when they don’t know what’s on the other side. Akumas are ruled by emotion, not logic.

The yoyo zipped around the tree, smashing Alya’s body into Marinette’s. Panicked, the Akuma struggled, hand wrapped desperately around her phone as Marinette dug at her fingers, the two girls wrapped so tightly that Alya’s cheek pressed against the other girl’s lips.

Finally, the phone left Alya’s grip, thrown on the ground with the slightest flick of the wrist as the girl screamed in fury. A large red foot stomped downward, shattering the screen and releasing a white butterfly.

* * *

“Ugh,” Alya complained yet again, laying her head down in Marinette’s lap as she pouted, her face turning to Nino, “I can’t believe I missed getting footage of Mister Bug yet again. You just had to get turned into a Disney-Esq turtle, didn’t you, Nino?”

“You’re the one who turned me!”

“And you couldn’t even attempt to hold a phone?”

“Turtles don’t have fingers, dude!”

Their argument continued, Alya still lamenting over her lack of footage despite the hours that had passed. Luka had already left, staying long enough to see that Marinette was okay and pose the question of where she went. He wasn’t angry when she couldn’t answer, but, she could see the disappointment on his face. Still, he was somehow the furthest from the front of her mind.

 **We should talk** , declared Adrien’s text message, just another drop in the pool of Marinette’s concerns.

As her hands worked through the waves atop Alya’s head, her mind flew back to another place and time.

Her eyes shut, her body pressed against Chat Noir as the transformation dropped, his clothes underneath her hands for mere seconds as he whispered her transformation sequence. Sewing had ruined her; she could recognize fabrics by feel. Every composition, every weave, and every weight had a different texture. Finely woven silk, cotton, and not a hint of polyester anywhere. Just the slightest hint of sugarcane, an element newly introduced to the Gabriel label’s denim due to the unique fade it created.

She was one step closer to Chat Noir’s identity, and though she had told him that she didn’t wish to know, she couldn’t deny the heavy thumping in her chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while.  
> Fun fact: I actually went to college and majored in costume design for a while, one of my professors told me that in her master's program and in others, you were expected to be able to identify fabrics via feel alone. I can only really tell if something is cotton or polyester, but silk has a far different feel than anything else if you ever get to test this out.


End file.
